


That Was You
ho
by Seriadne



Category: Kim Possible
Genre: Hurt-Comfort, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-12
Updated: 2012-04-14
Packaged: 2013-02-28 23:28:43
Rating: T
Chapters: 11
Words: 39,144
Publisher: www.fanfiction.net
Story URL: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7632299/1/
Author URL: http://www.fanfiction.net/u/3205777/Seriadne
Summary: Kim must relive her darkest memory, but this time she has someone to share her pain - someone who understands how she feels. Looking into the mystery of who ruined their lives, they find out that it goes deeper than they ever thought.





	1. Vanishing Act

Hey guys! Sorry for the short first chapter; I didn't want to go too in-depth with this part. I promise the other chapters will be longer.

I don't own any of the incredibly awesome, super brave and very well-portrayed characters of Kim Possible.

* * *

Kim's head hurt like fire every time she moved. She didn't open her eyes, for she knew the pain would spike if she did. She didn't remember what had happened. She had been gulping down a bottle of soda as she walked home from the library, and then…darkness. A void in her memory. Selective _tabula rasa._

_Car accident_, she figured. _Ugh…where am I? This isn't asphalt…this feels like…_

Kim's eyes flickered open, but surprisingly the pain did not increase. Her room was very dimly lit. The only thing she could really make out was another bed beside her own. There was someone sprawled on it, hands stretched above and behind her head like he or she was doing pull-ups in her sleep.

_Wait…there's only one bed in my room…_

Kim tried to sit up, but found she could not. After straining for a moment against seemingly invisible bonds, she fell back with a heavy breath escaping her body. Attempting to blink away the post-unconsciousness fog, she tried to process the facts. When she squinted, she realized that the person on the bed beside her was another girl, maybe four or five years older than her own age of fifteen. She was not doing pull-ups in her sleep at all; her wrists were fettered to the rough wooden headboard behind her.

As were Kim's.

With a sickening jolt, Kim realized the implications. She tried to cry out, only to realize that she was silenced by a gag. As soon as she noticed the gag's presence, it immediately became unbearably uncomfortable.

"Ughh…"

Kim turned her head in the direction of the other bed. The girl in it was stirring, groggily pulling at her bonds. She turned her head and saw Kim lying next to her; neither girl could distinguish the other's face, but Kim noticed that she was not gagged. "Wh…where am I?"

"Ah, you're both awake. Good."

Kim started, trying to cry out for help around her gag but to no avail. There was movement in the corner of the room, and a man slowly walked into her sightline. It was so dark, she hadn't noticed him sitting there.

"I was beginning to worry that neither of you would wake up. Anesthetic can be very potent to young people when taken in excess."

Kim's eyes widened. Anesthetic? She realized that her soda had tasted odd – of course, after she had downed the entire bottle – but she was too thirsty to really care.

"Ah, you realize how I did it." The man sat on the edge of Kim's bed. "Don't think you're too special, though. I had no idea who would buy the spiked bottles. I must admit, though, I am surprised to have gotten you two, of all people. The famous duo."

"Get the hell away from her," the other girl spat. Definitely older than me, Kim thought.

"In due time." The man scooted even closer to Kim – a little too close for her liking. He twirled a lock of her fiery hair roughly. "Please don't waste your energy screaming. No one will hear you."

Kim's heart started to pound against the confines of her chest, and she tried to speak through the gag. "H…ha ah oo?"

"Who am I?" The man laughed silkily and leaned over Kim so she could see his mask. 'If I wanted you to know that…"

Kim's breath caught in her throat as the man's hand found the collar of her shirt, and she tried to jerk away. "Ah!"

"You're trapped," he whispered.

* * *

When the police found Kim a day later, bloody and still tied to the bed, the other girl had vanished.


	2. Innocent For Once

And...enter Shego! Not sure why Bonnie pushed Kim down in the snow; I just know that she was making fun of her for being a goody-two-shoes, world-saving 'suck-up'. You know, normal Bonnie stuff. The specifics of what happened are for you (yes, **you**) to interpret. *begging on knees* R&R please! I want to improve!

I don't own Kim Possible. Never have, never will.

* * *

"Freak!" called Bonnie as she stalked past Kim, who lay sprawled in the snow wearing no more than a cheerleading tank and skirt.

Kim swore under her breath, shivering. It was bad enough that she had a world to keep safe without having a curse like Bonnie Rockwaller follow her around.

_Why can't she just accept me?_ Kim wondered dismally. _It's not like I ever hurt her. I _save_ people, for God's sake._

Suddenly, a shadow fell over her. "Need a hand, 'Kimmie-cub'?"

"Only people who don't try to kill me can call me that," Kim replied sharply, recognizing the voice.

"Last I looked, I'm trying to help you." Shego reached down and pulled Kim out of the snow. "What happened?"

"Someone pushed me," Kim muttered.

"And you didn't fight back? I'm shocked."

"I only fight criminals, Shego. Bonnie, while quite possibly the bitchiest person on the planet, is no criminal." Kim was astonished that those words had actually come out of her mouth, though they seemed to flow so nicely when describing Bonnie.

"I'm a close second."

Kim nodded in acknowledgement. "Can't argue with that."

Shego looked around. "Where's the buffoon? He's usually right on your tail after school."

"How would you know?"

"I have my sources."

Kim folded her arms across her chest, partly to show defiance and partly to try to warm herself. "Of course you do. And in answer to your previous question, he's at cooking club. That stupid Home Economics class made him the most popular student at Middleton High."

"Aww, is someone a little jealous?" Shego teased, but then she sobered. "Want me to walk you home?"

Kim blinked, shocked. "Okay, it's weird enough you're not trying to murder me. Now you're offering to walk me home when it's snowing?"

"Forget I asked." Shego began to walk away.

"No!" Kim's outburst surprised even herself. "I mean… will you? Please?"

Shego nodded slowly, and together the two young women began walking down the sidewalk.

"So why are you in Middleton?" Kim inquired after a moment. Her voice was beginning to shake, she was shivering so violently.

"Geez, Kimmie, you look half frozen." Shego shrugged off her jacket and draped it over Kim's shoulders. The teen noticed that, instead of her trademark black and green cat suit, Shego was wearing a pair of black stonewashed jeans with a forest green sweater. "Next time, bring your own."

Kim, though surprised at the gesture, wrapped the coat around her body tightly. It was still warm from being on Shego's body, and she reveled in that strange warmth.

"In answer to your question, I was shopping." Shego motioned to the small bag slung over her arm. "I don't steal everything, you know."

Kim could only nod. Despite the jacket, she was still freezing. "I d-didn't s-say you d-d-did."

Shego stopped and turned to face Kim. "Are you all right? You sound awful."

"F-fine…just c-c-cold…"

"Okay," Shego replied, sounding totally unconvinced.

After another moment or so of walking, Kim began to feel weird. She was having trouble feeling her legs, and she couldn't stop shivering. The world was going fuzzy and blackening around the edges, and it spun every time she took a step. She stopped walking, and Shego stopped right beside her. "Kim?"

"It's…s-so c-c-c-cold…" whispered Kim. Shego could see her eyes glazing over.

"Hang on, Kim. You'll be home soon."

Kim tried to reply, she really did, but she couldn't. The world faded, and her knees buckled under her.

Shego caught Kim as she collapsed, suddenly worried for reasons she couldn't fathom. "Kim? Kim, are you all right?"

There was no reply. Though Kim's eyes were closed, she was still shivering, and her body literally felt like ice. Shego straightened, cradling Kim close to her chest so as to try and warm her small body.

"Damn," she whispered anxiously.


	3. The One She Couldn't Save

Wow...I didn't plan for Shego to turn out so un-Shego-like in this. I think I can make it work, though, and I'll get back to the snarky Shego we all know and love.

In no way, shape, or form do I own any aspect of Kim Possible.

* * *

It was an easy task for Shego to find Kim's house and break in. Careful not to track wet snow throughout the Possible family residence (which was out of character for her in so many ways) she quickly ascended the stairs and found Kim's room. Gently, she set Kim down on her bed. The poor girl was freezing, her hair crusted with snow. Her cheerleading clothes barely covered her body, leaving her more vulnerable. No matter how many times she had envisioned being clearly superior to her teen nemesis, Shego wasn't sure she liked seeing Kim this small and frail.

Shego walked into the girl's bathroom briefly and ran a hot bath for her. Then she looked in the closet and found a loose fitting pair of sweats, perfect for keeping warm. Returning to Kim's bedside, she hesitated. What if Kim woke up? What would she do?

No matter, she decided. She could die if I don't do anything.

Gently, almost tenderly, Shego eased Kim's clothes off of her body. She focused solely on Kim's unconscious face, not looking anywhere below her neck so as to leave her some dignity. She was skating on thin ice with sexual harassment as it was. She picked the girl up and carried her to the tub, laying her down gently. The snow on her body hissed slightly as it came into contact with the hot water, and color began returning to Kim's face, much to Shego's relief. After about ten minutes, Shego pulled the plug and lifted Kim out, drying her off with her flickering emerald plasma. Getting her dressed without looking was no easy task, but she managed it well enough. Then she laid Kim back down in bed and gently pulled the covers back over her body.

"Night, Kimmie," she said softly.

* * *

Kim awoke two hours later. Her first feeling was one of confusion.

_What? W…where am I? It was so cold…and now…_

Her second reaction was panic.

_Oh God…oh God…where am I? I'm in a bed…oh no, oh no, oh no…not again, please God, not again…_

She was too scared to realize that she was in her own room, in her own bed, with no man in the house. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she clutched the blanket tightly around her, choked gasps escaping her mouth.

"Kim?"

She heard footsteps outside her bedroom door and started trembling harder.

"Kim, are you awake? I thought I heard crying…"

Shego walked in and stopped short when she saw the state Kim was in. She was sitting against the wall, knees pulled tightly against her chest, her face streaked with tears. Her entire body was trembling fearfully. "Kim…?"

Kim's head snapped up as if spring-loaded, and she shook her head vehemently. "D…don't come any closer! Leave me alone!"

If anything, Shego was more confused than Kim. "What? Kim, what's wrong?"

Kim finally seemed to realize that Shego was not, in fact, a man. "Don't let him come…don't let him come near me again…"

Shego approached the distraught girl slowly. "What do you mean?"

"He'll…he'll do it again…"

Shego sat down on the edge of the bed, and Kim flinched away.

"Whoa there, it's okay, Kim. I won't hurt you. Who's 'he'?"

Kim shook her head again. "I…I don't know…" Realization dawned on her face. "Shego?"

"Yeah, Kimmie, it's me."

Suddenly, Kim wrapped her arms around Shego's neck, sobbing uncontrollably. "Oh G-God, Shego, I thought y-you were…were him…what h-happened to me? What's going on?"

"It's okay, Kim," Shego comforted awkwardly, startled by Kim's sudden movement. "That Bonnie girl pushed you into the snow, and you were so cold you passed out. I just brought you back to your house and defrosted you."

"Defrosted?" Suddenly, Kim realized that she was wearing different clothes, and she yelped. "W-why aren't I in my cheer clothes? How did I get into these?"

"Calm down! Your cheer clothes were soaked; I wasn't about to leave you in them."

Kim released Shego slowly, staring at her like a frightened animal. "You…you d-dressed me?"

"Yeah. I didn't see anything, if that's what you're implying."

Kim crawled to the other side of the bed and pulled her knees to her chest again, her body shaking with shivers that had nothing to do with the cold. Tears began streaming down her face again, leaking out through closed lids.

"Kim, did I do something wrong?" Shego asked.

Kim couldn't bring herself to answer. Then it hit Shego; everything seemed to connect. Kim's fear, her panic at learning she had been undressed, the mysterious 'him' that she kept referring to. It all made sense. Shego felt like she had been kicked in the stomach as she looked at Kim. How could she not have known? All this time, fighting Kim, she had never once figured it out, never once realized how badly her arch foe had been hurt.

"Oh, Kimmie," she whispered, displaying a tenderness that was totally uncharacteristic for her. "Oh my God, Kim."

She slowly scooted over next to the frightened girl, reaching out slowly so as not to scare her more. She flinched slightly at the touch, but did not shy away again. Gently, Shego took Kim into her arms, cradling her close to her chest like a small child. She could feel as the girl's sobs racked her body, feel Kim's pain and fear through her actions.

"Oh God, Kim," she murmured. "I'm so sorry. I never wanted to scare you. I didn't know that…that had happened to you. I'm so, so sorry."

Kim buried her face in Shego's neck, tears dripping from her eyes to the young woman's skin.

"You don't know what it's like," she whispered brokenly, "to have your…your peace of mind taken away from you. You don't know how it is to be snatched away from somewhere you thought was safe."

Shego hesitated before glancing away. "Yes, I do."

Kim's eyes widened, the tears ceasing momentarily. "You…what?"

"Yeah, Kimmie, I…I was raped too." Shego couldn't believe she was sharing this with Kim, of all people. "It was almost three years ago today."

"That's when I…" Kim swallowed. "That's when it happened to me."

A tear ran down Shego's cheek, not going unnoticed by either of them. "There was someone else in there too…she was cuffed to a bed across from mine. He made her watch as he raped me, and after that… he made me watch." Her voice hardened. "He marked us, Kimmie. Branded us with his symbol. The girl was in so much pain, and so was I, but we couldn't fight back. She was about my age, and what are two teenagers against someone like him?" She sighed, another tear following the first. "I don't even know if the other girl survived him. It hurt so much…I never imagined I could feel like that…"

She trailed off when she saw Kim's expression, a mixture of fear, confusion, and sadness. "What?"

"Marked?" she whispered. "He marked you?"

"An E. He carved it into our stomachs with a knife." Shego shuddered. "It left a scar."

Kim bit her lip. "Shego?"

"Kim?"

"Could you see the other girl's face?"

Shego shook her head. "A bag was over her face when I could see her, and then he put a bag over my face." Inside, she was sobbing. Why was she reliving her worst nightmare to Kim? Why was she torturing herself?

"Shego." This time, it wasn't an inquiry.

Shego looked back at the young woman in her arms. Kim grasped her shirt hem hesitantly, trembling, and lifted it to reveal her stomach. There, right in the middle of her skin, was a pink E, the remnant of a years-old wound. Shego stared at it in shock, unable to move for a moment. Then, biting her lip, she lifted her own shirt hem to reveal an identical mark on her own pale green stomach.

"That was you," they both whispered at the same time.

Then they were both crying, holding each other tight like they were the only comfort in the world. During all those years of fighting, years of hiding their stories, they never knew that the other victim was right in front of them the entire time.

"I thought he had killed you," Kim whispered. "You didn't move after…after he had finished. I thought you were dead."

"I wished I was," Shego murmured. "I saw everything he did to you, Kim. I'm so sorry I couldn't stop him."

"He tortured you, Shego," Kim said shakily. "Nothing was worse than watching him do that to you …hearing you scream, and cry, and beg for mercy… nothing was worse than your pain."

At a loss for words, Shego could only bury her face in Kim's fiery hair and sob her heart out. For so long she had thought she was alone, that no one else knew of the burdens she carried – both that of herself and that of Kim. No one had ever cared about her before.

"I'm sorry I couldn't save you," Kim whispered. "I wanted to…"

"Please don't apologize," Shego said softly. "You did nothing wrong. It was all him."

Kim looked up into Shego's deep green eyes, which so often were blazing with hate. Now, though, they were burning with something else, something better.

"Shego…"she murmured hesitantly, trying to read the woman's eyes.

"Kim." Shego's voice was low and soft.

"We can thank him for one thing."

"What?" Shego replied bitterly. "For the fact that we're living the rest of our lives in fear of a man's touch?"

"No. Just think. If that had never happened, I never would have wanted to go into business helping people. We never would have met as allies or enemies."

"I never would have become a villain," admitted Shego. "I was already thinking about breaking away from Team Go, but that sent me over the edge."

Kim attempted a smile. "Different results from the same catalyst. You know, there's one thing he didn't count on."

"Oh? What's that?"

"You rape the two most powerful women in the world at the same time, and there'll be hell to pay. He didn't count on us becoming what we are."

"It's his own fault that we can now kill him," Shego muttered. "Your logic is flawed, anyone ever tell you that?"

Kim shrugged. "Your sarcasm is annoying, anyone ever tell you that?"

"Why, thank you." Shego attempted a curtsy while sitting on the bed.

"You're insufferable." Kim stuck out her tongue at the older woman; to her surprise, Shego stuck hers out right back at her. It was such an un-Shego-like gesture, she was struck momentarily speechless.

"What's the matter, Princess? I steal all your words with my pure awesomeness?" Shego grinned smugly.

Kim recovered herself quickly. "Sure. If you say so."

"Good, Princess, you're learning." Shego sighed, suddenly exhausted. "So we got an attack to plan or what?"


	4. Revelation

Hey guys! Winter break's coming up, so I'm gonna try to write these stories as much as I can. I hope to finish this one up!

I don't own Kim Possible, Ron Stoppable, Monique, Rufus, Shego, Bueno Nacho, the Naco…need I go on? Never did, never will.

* * *

"You _what?"_

Kim squirmed in her seat and picked at her Naco, half-wondering why she had bought it in the first place. The things were heart attacks for sale. "Ron, it's hard enough to tell you guys without you freaking out like that."

Ron obediently closed his mouth, though his eyes remained wide.

"GF, why didn't you tell us?" Monique squeezed Kim's arm comfortingly. "We could've helped."

"It's not the kind of thing I can just talk about, Mo." Kim abandoned her Naco and began sucking down her soda like it was the last thing she would ever drink. "Sorry if I hurt your feelings."

"Hurt _our_ feelings? Kim, you're the one who got ra-"

"Ssshhh!" Kim's hand came up and smothered Monique's words before she could fully form them. "Please, not so loud."

"Why tell us now?" Ron piped up. "What made you want to?"

"Ron, 'want' is not the word I would use."

Rufus popped his head out of Ron's pants pocket sleepily, his nose twitching. His tiny head turned in the direction of Kim's food, and he cocked his head in interest. Clambering up onto the table, he scampered over to her plate and squeaked, "Naco?"

"Go ahead, Rufus." Kim pushed the Naco over to him, watching absentmindedly as he dove in happily and started plowing through it. "Ron, ever think about feeding him normal naked mole rat food instead of a heart attack on a plate?"

"Kim!" Ron said, shocked. "The Naco is a wholesome staple of anyone's diet. Think about it; we have your four basic food groups here: the tortilla shell for your grains, lettuce for your veggies, wholesome 2% beef for your meat, and nacho cheese for your dairy group."

"That's not healthy," Kim argued. "And you forgot a couple groups."

While Ron stared up at the stucco ceiling of Bueno Nacho, trying to recall the food pyramid from health class, Monique broke in. She wasn't as easily distracted as he was. "Kim, why are you telling us this now?"

Kim drew a breath. "There was someone in there with me."

"E, right?"

"No, not E." Kim's hand unconsciously drifted to cover her stomach. "Not him. There was another girl in the bed next to mine."

Monique's eyes widened in understanding. "Oh."

"He made us watch each other while he…while he…" Kim's voice began trembling.

"I get it, Kim." Monique looped an arm around her friend's shoulders. "You don't need to explain this part."

Kim nodded gratefully, sniffling a little and wiping away a single tear. "Thanks."

"No prob. So, about this girl…who was she?"

Kim glanced away. "I didn't know her then. I could barely see her face; it was too dark. When I woke up after…after it happened, the police were there, and she was gone. I asked about her, but they said I had been alone when I was found. I didn't even know if she had survived, or if E had just done something with her body."

"But you know now, don't you?" Ron cut in, still staring at the ceiling. Both girls looked up at him, surprised; they had thought he was still trying to remember the food pyramid. "That's why you're bringing this up again."

"Y…yes." Kim nodded slowly. "I know now. She's alive."

"Who is she?" Monique asked, a little too loudly.

"Ssshh!" Kim hissed again, glancing around furtively. "Here's not the best place to tell you. I can tell you that I've known her for a while and just haven't recognized her…until yesterday."

"What happened yesterday?" Ron inquired, simultaneously dragging Rufus away from the Styrofoam plate before he could start chewing on it.

Kim closed her eyes for a moment, remembering everything that had happened: the fall, Shego's unexpected assistance, her blackout, awakening in a total panic and refusing to calm down until Shego was beside her. She shivered involuntarily; she could almost still feel the freezing snow on her skin.

"Kim, you okay?" Monique tapped Kim's shoulder. "You cold or something?"

Kim nodded. To Ron she said evasively, "We ran into each other and she walked me home."

"Oh, yeah. Sorry about that." A sheepish expression crept over Ron's face. "My 'Seven Layers of Heaven' cake was in high demand by the teachers."

"It's okay," Kim replied, though internally she couldn't decide if she was jealous or sour. "If you hadn't had to stay, I probably would have never found out who she really was."

Ron beamed, remaining oblivious to the tiny hint of sarcasm in Kim's tone. "Any time, KP."

Rufus mimicked his master, spreading his tiny pink arms wide and showing off even more of his buck teeth. "An' time!"

Kim smiled at the tiny rodent, and then at Ron. No matter what they did, it was hard to stay mad at them for long.

"Sooo?" Monique prompted eagerly. "You gonna tell us who she is?"

"Maybe. You guys probably wouldn't believe me."

"Try us," Ron returned.

"No, I'm serious. She's all tough and sarcastic on the outside, but inside, she's more fragile than I am. You two – especially you, Ron – would need some convincing."

Monique shrugged. "I'm game. Will you tell us now?"

"I'll show you. She's waiting for us in the park."

* * *

Shego had been lounging in the park for a good two hours. She had melted the ice off of the bench before actually sitting on it, but it didn't retain the warmth of the plasma for long. She could feel the freezing metal slats everywhere they touched her, and it wasn't comfortable in the slightest. From her extensive collection of green and black clothes (because honestly, can we expect anything else from Shego?) she had chosen a pair of black skinny jeans, forest green fleece-lined boots, a dark green sweater with a small black S stitched on the front, and a matching green jacket. She checked her watch lazily (green and black again!) and sighed.

"Five thirty," she muttered. "You'd think Pumpkin would make it over here faster."

Then she heard the distinct noise of a car approaching and then stopping some distance away.

_Sounds like an old model Mustang. Good muscle car. Hope it comes in green._ She absently leaned down, still sitting on the bench, plucked a snow-covered blade of grass from the ground, and twirled it between her long fingers. _I really wish I had my iPod right now. It's boring just sitting here._

"So, will you tell us now?" came a voice, seemingly riding the breeze to reach Shego's ears. _The buffoon. Of course._

"She's here, Ron. You can see for yourself once we get to the pond."

"What pond?" Ron grumbled. "It's all ice this time of year."

Shego smirked, closing her eyes and reclining on the bench. _Stoppable can be so sour sometimes. Kind of like me…whoa, whoa, whoa, I did _not_ just think that I was similar to the buffoon._

The voices of Kim, Ron, and Monique continued to draw nearer, but Shego tuned out what they were saying. She stared at the inside of her eyelids silently, still toying with the blade of frostbitten grass. _You'd think Kimmie would make them move faster._

After a couple of minutes, Shego heard the three sets of footsteps come to a dead halt.

"Hey!" Kim protested. "What gives?"

"Don't move, Kim," Ron whispered. "Shego's here."

Another smirk played about Shego's lips. _If Stoppable honestly thinks I can't hear him from here, he's more of a buffoon than I thought._

"What's Shego doing here?" Monique hissed.

Kim started to answer, but Ron cut her off. "It doesn't matter. Kim's gonna do her thing where she kicks Shego's butt and carts her off to the police. Right, Kim?"

Shego stood up, stretching in a way that slightly resembled a feline. She opened her eyes and fixed her gaze on the trio who had just crested the hill nearby, sauntering toward them.

"You know what, buffoon," she said silkily as she neared, "I wouldn't be talking if I were you. Half the time Kimmie wins, and half the time I win. I figure you've got a fifty/fifty chance of survival should I decide that I'm insulted by your words. Get it?"

Ron's eyes widened and all the color drained from his face. "Kim, do something…"

Kim approached Shego slowly, her eyes never once leaving the villainess's. Shego simply stood there and waited for Kim to reach her.

"I was beginning to think you had forgotten," she said quietly once the redhead was within whispering distance.

"No. No way." Kim shook her head vehemently. "Ron wanted Bueno Nacho."

"Ah."

"And Shego?"

"Hmm?"

"Please don't kill my friends. They're…well, my friends."

Shego shrugged as the pair traipsed back through the ankle-deep snow to where Ron and Monique were standing, slack-jawed with fright from being so close to the feared villainess who was wanted in eleven countries.

"Kim, what are you doing?" Ron managed. "Fight her off already!"

Kim glanced at Shego, who nodded almost imperceptibly, before replying. "Ron, Monique, I asked Shego to come here. She's the girl I was talking about. The girl tied to the other bed."

Ron and Monique's reactions were polar opposites. Monique could only stand there, staring at Shego like she was either a goddess or a demon – most likely the latter. Ron, however, folded his arms, a totally uncharacteristic smirk curling the corners of his lips. "I don't believe it."

"Here we go," Kim groaned, rolling her eyes. "Ron, I tried to tell you-"

"You're trying to tell me that Shego, _the_ Shego, got raped and couldn't fight the rapist off? She allowed herself to get captured and just vanished after it happened? Well, okay, I can understand the vanishing part; that's more like Shego. But letting herself get raped? She couldn't plasma blast him or anything?"

Shego flinched every time Ron used the 'r' word. "I know someone who's gonna get plasma blasted in a second, you-"

Ron plowed right over her words like they hadn't been spoken in the first place. "This is so unlike you, Kim. You're befriending the enemy! She's probably lying about being that other girl. She probably dug into your past and found it, thinking something like, 'Oh hey, here's something else I can torture my teenage arch foe with.' Did that ever occur to you, Kim?"

Monique could see that Ron's words were not meant to be spiteful; he was just confused, even by his standards. However, she could also see how uncomfortable both Kim and Shego were, and she suddenly realized the truth. Shego _was_ that mystery girl, and Kim was sure of it.

"What Ron _means_, Kim," she broke in, giving Ron a pointed glare, "is that he just wants to see some proof."

Ron squirmed under Monique's burning gaze, changing tack at top speed. "Uh…sure. Yeah. Got any?"

Shego and Kim exchanged uncomfortable glances, and this time Ron caught it. He had never seen Shego look uncomfortable or scared before.

"Yeah," Kim said after a moment. "Remember when I explained the whole E thing to you?"

Ron and Monique nodded slowly and said simultaneously, "Yeah…"

Kim glanced at Shego again, who nodded. The redhead bit her lip, unzipped her jacket, and pulled up her shirt slightly, shivering as the frigid breeze hit the skin of her stomach. The E-shaped scar was there, pink against her pale skin and standing out like a giraffe in New York City. She looked at Shego to see she was doing much the same, except she was doing it much more slowly. The identical scar glared out from its permanent place on her concave stomach, her pale green skin tinting it an odd shade of darker green.

"She has the mark, too," Kim said softly.

* * *

Epiphany for Monique and Ron! I wonder how they'll take it! (I wonder how Shego's taking it inside...) Just food for thought for my lovely readers!


	5. The Old Married Couple

Chapter Five! Of course, you guys already knew that…stupid plot bunnies in my head almost didn't let me write another chapter. I overcame them, I'm proud to say.

Thanks so much to Dr. Rex Greylin for helping me come up with ideas for this story (because honestly, I hadn't planned on continuing it). Stay tuned!

I don't own Kim Possible, the show or the character.

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"Let me get this straight," Monique said slowly, like she was evaluating every word that came out of her mouth. "Kim Possible, the _great_ Kim Possible, is asking for our help in exacting revenge on someone?"

"Technically he can't be counted as a someone if he's not human," Ron pointed out, his mouth once again full of Naco.

Kim smiled appreciatively at her best friend. "Pretty much, Mo."

Monique was silent for a moment, processing this new chain of events. "Count me in."

The four of them – Kim, Monique, Ron, and Shego – had retired to Kim's room after their little meeting in the park. Monique had claimed Kim's computer chair, while Ron was sprawled on a beanbag with a Bueno Nacho takeout bag in front of him. Kim and Shego were both sitting on the bed, Kim at the foot and Shego reclining against the headboard. They refused to allow anyone else on the bed – not surprisingly, really, considering what they had been through.

Shego picked at her nails absently. "Call me crazy, but don't we have to _find_ the guy before killing him?"

"Shego!" Kim kicked her former nemesis in the shin. "_We_ are not going to kill him."

"I notice that you put emphasis on 'we', Pumpkin."

Kin rolled her eyes, simultaneously winking. "Interpret that however you want."

"Oh _ho_, Princess," Shego said triumphantly, punching the air above her head. "Who knew you had a dark side in you?"

Kim delivered another sharp kick to the villainess. "Unless you want to get kicked into another power tower, that stays in this room."

"Fine." Shego went back to picking at her nails, trying to get nonexistent dirt out from under them. "There's still the issue of finding the bastard."

Kim decided to overlook Shego's language being that it was, after all, accurate in describing E. "Yeah. He could be anywhere; I mean, it's been three years."

"Okay, call _me_ crazy," Monique cut in, "but Shego forgot something. Don't we have to know who he is before finding him?"

Kim and Ron exchanged glances and shrugged.

"What?" Shego asked, her gaze switching back and forth between Kim and Ron. She had caught the look. "What's the secret?"

"No secret," Kim said nonchalantly. "We don't necessarily need to know who he is, just where he's gone. We can track him from that."

"And by 'we' you mean…"

"Wade," the three teens said in unison.

"Wade?"

"Wade Load," Ron elaborated. "You know, short, African American, kinda heavyset-"

"Ron!" Kim admonished.

"-little kid, appears on the Kimmunicator. That Wade."

Shego exhaled. "Oh. Nerdlinger."

"_Wade_," Kim said firmly. "His name is Wade. Not Nerdlinger. Just like my name is Kim, not Cupcake, Pumpkin, Princess, or any of those other pet names you gave me."

"But it's so fun calling you those names, Princess," Shego teased. "It's so easy to get under your skin, and so fun to watch when I do."

Kim scowled. "So I can start calling you names like Sheeg?"

"Don't. You. Dare." Shego's hand ignited, and Kim was the only one who didn't flinch.

Monique stood up from the computer chair and walked over to the side of the bed, where she had an unobstructed view of both of them. Nervously eyeing Shego all the while, she pointed out, "Hello? Bigger issue alert, anyone? We're not trying to name each other; we're trying to find a rapist. Sorry," she added quickly when Kim and Shego both flinched at the word.

"Get Wade on the Kimmunicator," Ron suggested. "That'd be better than fighting with each other." Shego turned her burning gaze to him, and he began to squirm anxiously. "Unless you want to fight. That's a-okay with me. Yep, perfect with the Ronster."

"Better, buffoon." Shego reclined against the headboard again, but sat up briefly. She grabbed something soft – she really didn't see what it was – and stuffed it behind her before leaning back, letting out a sigh of contentment that no one had ever heard from her before. "Much better."

"Shego!" Kim protested. "Get off Pandaroo!"

"'Pandaroo'?" Shego sat up and pulled the plush object out from behind her, holding it at arm's length to examine it. It was mostly black, with white arms and the ears, legs, and tail of a kangaroo. A smaller version was tucked into a pouch on the stuffed animal's belly area. Immediately, she had to stifle laughter. "Is…is this a Cuddlebuddy?"

"Shut up, Shego," Kim muttered.

Some giggles – very childlike and gleeful, _most_ un-Shego-like – sputtered out from between the villainess' ebon lips. A faint green blush rose on her cheeks from trying to suppress the brunt of her laughter. "It is! It _is_ a Cuddlebuddy! _The_ Kim Possible has a Cuddlebuddy fetish!"

"It's not a fetish!" Kim snapped, snatching Pandaroo away from the green woman. She fell back heavily onto the bed and covered her face with the plush toy, smothering what Shego was pretty sure were curse words. Wisely, she chose not to comment on that.

Monique threw her arms up in the air in resignation. "I give." She flopped down on the edge of Ron's beanbag. "I give, I give, I give," she kept repeating.

Ron elbowed her and motioned to the two others. Under his breath, he observed, "Is it just me, or do those two fight like an old married couple?"

Both Kim and Shego sat bolt upright, immediately falling silent. Their gazes found the unfortunate blonde, who bit his lip and resumed his squirming.

"What?" they said at the same time, their voices dangerously soft.

Just as Monique was sure that Kim and Shego were going to lunge, either at each other or at Ron, a familiar beeping resonated throughout the room. Both women looked up with a start. Kim instinctively reached for her pocket, but found it empty. Ron beat her to the punch, lunging for the Kimmunicator sitting on the computer desk.

"Wade!" he exclaimed in relief as soon as the child appeared onscreen.

"Ron?" Wade squinted at Ron and tapped his computer screen. "Is that you? You look like you've seen a demon or something!"

"Or something," Ron muttered with a glance at Kim and Shego. "What's up, Wade?"

"I was just checking up on Kim. I just heard that she was seen unconscious yesterday, being carried around by Shego. She okay?"

Kim motioned for the Kimmunicator, and Ron tossed it over to her. "I'm good, Wade. Hey…I have a sitch for you for a change."

"Sure, Kim." Wade reclined in his computer chair and grabbed a cup from his desk, slurping down whatever was inside. "What's going on?"

Shego crawled across the bed to look over Kim's shoulder, brushing a few stray strands of hair out of her face. "A lot of things, Nerdlinger."

Wade's skin turned an unhealthy shade of tan. "Uh…Kim…is Shego in your bedroom?"

Shego smirked, but decided not to make a snarky comment. There were too many things wrong with what he had just said.

"Yeah, that's Shego. It's a long story." Kim massaged her temples. "Shego, quit breathing down my neck, will you? Your breath is really hot."

"That's not the only thing that's hot about me, Pumpkin," Shego said in a low voice, the corner of her mouth quirking up in a sly grin.

"_Shego!_" Kim punched the green woman on the shoulder hard. "Can't you control yourself for just one minute?"

"Can I? Yes. Do I want to?" Shego's grin spread across her entire mouth. "Not really. For all you know, I could've been talking about this." She held up her hand, already blazing with emerald plasma, and waved it tauntingly in front of Kim's face.

"That could be true, but I know you better than that."

Wade cleared his throat pointedly. "Um…Kim, you wanna continue this conversation later?"

"No, Wade, it's okay." Kim glared back at Shego. "We're done."

"Sure," Shego said nonchalantly, going back to picking at her nails. "If you say so. You got a nail file around here?"

Kim rolled her eyes. "Wade, we need you to track someone down for us."

"You got it. Who is it?"

Kim, Shego, Ron, and Monique all exchanged glances. None of them responded to the young boy's inquiry, prompting him to lean forward and tap his computer screen again. "Hello? Is my mike working?"

After yet another minute or so of silence, it was Monique who responded from offscreen. "We don't know, Wade."

Wade stared uncomprehendingly at his webcam, trying to wrap his mind around what he had just been told. "How am I supposed to track someone I know nothing about?"

"You're Kim's Nerdlinger," Shego responded. "You do stuff like that every day."

Kim elbowed Shego in the ribs.

"Ow! You're violent today!"

"Coming from you," Kim snorted. "Wade, can you check the security cameras of that old convenience off of West Main, next to the library?"

Wade nodded, his fingers already skimming over his keyboard. "From when?"

"March 13th, three years ago."

Wade barely faltered in his ministrations. "That won't be easy, but…got it!" He clicked on something, and the video feed appeared on the screen of the Kimmunicator. It showed the inside of a tiny little shop with four aisles and a dingy counter being manned by an exhausted-looking cashier. Kim watched for about five minutes before she saw someone enter the shop with two soda bottles in hand and head straight for the soda cooler at the back of the store.

"Is that him?" Shego asked softly.

Kim shrugged, her eyes riveted to the screen. The man's back was to the security camera the entire time, but Kim could see the cooler door being opened and closed. The man left the store empty-handed, not looking at the camera once. No one could tell if it was purposeful or not.

"Want me to speed it up?" Wade asked.

"Please and thank you."

The pace of the video feed picked up some. Kim and Shego watched as three or four more customers entered and exited the convenience store, none of them whom the young women recognized. After a moment, a teenager entered the store.

"Stop the tape!" Shego practically shouted in Kim's ear. "Stop it right there!"

Wade complied, rolling his eyes even though no one could see him do it. Now that the feed was paused, Kim and Shego could clearly see the girl who had just walked in. She had long black hair tied back behind her head in a ponytail, and her skin was a shade of pale green that both watchers knew all too well.

"That's…me," Shego whispered. "That's me three years ago."

"_What?_" Ron and Monique crowded onto the bed and peered at the tiny screen of the Kimmunicator.

"Shego as a teenager," Ron said in awe. "Never thought I'd see it."

"That was a long time ago," Shego said quietly. "I was still with Team Go…I didn't have to live in hiding then."

Wade resumed the video. The group watched as seventeen year-old Shego walked to the cooler and picked out a plastic bottle of soda. Kim felt the older Shego beside her stiffen as she thought of what that simple action would eventually lead to, and she placed a soft hand on hers comfortingly. "Shego…"

"It's okay," Shego replied quietly. "Just let it play."

After paying for her soda – "Shocking," Ron cut in – Shego exited the store. About a half hour passed, sped up courtesy of Wade, before the next customer entered the store. This time, it was Kim's turn to squirm, and Shego's turn to squeeze her hand soothingly. The newcomer looked to be fifteen or so, with pale cream skin and a mane of fiery hair that would've stood out even if they hadn't known who it was.

"Kim, you okay?" Shego whispered, her tone uncharacteristically tender.

Kim met Shego's gaze sadly. "Yeah. It's just a video. I mean, it's already happened."

Shego enveloped the eighteen year-old's hand in both of her own and squeezed it once again gently. "We both know that's not just it."

Monique squirmed slightly as she watched the two young women. They had gone from snarky and sarcastic to quiet and gentle within the space of a minute. They were even holding each other's hands like it was no big, and the way they were looking at each other was like…like they were the only comfort for each other in the world.

Eventually, Kim spoke up again. "So that man before…"

Shego nodded. "That's gotta be him." She looked back at the screen, though she couldn't see Wade. "Can you rewind back to that weird man, Nerdlinger?"

"You got it, Shego." Wade tapped a few buttons on his keyboard, and the tape rewound back to when the strange man was hunched in front of the cooler.

"Can you get a face shot?" Kim asked.

"I don't know. He didn't show his face to the camera at all, I don't think."

Kim and Shego watched for a moment as Wade flicked through each individual frame of the security tape. Though they never caught a glimpse of the man's face, they did see something else. Something eerily familiar.

"Stop!" both of them shouted simultaneously. A little bit frightened by the tone in which Kim and Shego spoke, Wade complied silently and quickly.

Kim and Shego studied the frame onscreen, and their blood ran cold.

"Shego…" Kim whispered. "Is…is that…"

Shego shook her head disbelievingly. "No. No, it can't be him. I would've recognized him that night. I know his voice well enough…"

But she didn't sound convinced.

"What if he knows something?" Kim went on tentatively.

"He's more of a goody-two-shoes than _you_ are, Kim. He would've broken by now if he had done something wrong." Still, Shego's voice lacked the utter resolve it usually had when she knew she was right. Kim didn't fail to pick up on this, and she scooted a little closer to Shego, pressing into her like she was giving a hug without arms. Both women stared at the tiny screen and the man on it. He wore a long black trench coat, collar turned up to protect against the cool March breeze outside. For a moment, the hem of the coat had been kicked to the side, revealing a pair of boots. Just the boots, no more. But that was enough for everyone watching.

After all, not everyone walks around wearing one black and one blue boot.

* * *

Oooh! I had fun coming up with that part! So, did he do it or not? (looks at storyline in notebook) Oh. I remember now.

Finals are DONE! That means I'll be able to get more chapters up! (Can I get a BOOYAH?) Sorry. Moment. I'm done. **Whew.**

Thanks again to Dr. Rex Greylin for being so totally awesome! (By the way, check out the Doc's page - you won't regret it!)


	6. E

Finally, things start to develop! Thanks to Dr. Rex Greylin, I know who "E" is! Hopefully if you know Kim Possible as well as I do, you'll know by the end of this chapter.

I don't own Kim Possible or the song "Telephone" by Lady Gaga (even though Hego had to go and screw the lyrics up). The only thing I do own is the concept of "E" (which came from the darkest depths of my mind… :0)

Happy reading!

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Hego was having a boring day, as a superhero's days went. Mego and the Wegos had taken the jet over to Hong Kong to get it repaired (because honestly, the only person in the Go family who was the least bit tech-savvy was Shego) and he had been left alone to guard Go Tower. This, while not the most exciting job in the world, had its benefits – benefits such as having the entire tower to himself to do as he pleased.

At the moment, the Go Tower didn't at all resemble the ultimate fortress of goodness, as Hego himself so lovingly called it. It was more like the enlarged, tricked-out bedroom of a wayward teenager. Every single light that wasn't burned out was turned on, and a few were flashing like they had been installed on a dance floor. Music blasted from every speaker in the entire tower, clearly audible from outside the tower.

"_Stop calling, stop calling_

_I don't wanna talk anymore_

_I left my heavy heart on the dance floor…"_

Hego danced through the corridors of Go Tower, holding his toothbrush to his mouth like a microphone. He hadn't bothered to change out of his blue and yellow rubber duck pajamas, and his slippered feet squeaked against the polished tile floor. His less-than-stellar singing voice echoed throughout the tower, almost as loud as the music itself, his mistakes in the lyrics glaringly obvious.

"_But the way you blowin' up my phone_

_Won't make me leave no faster_

_Put my suit on faster_

_Leave my girlfriends faster…"_

"_HEGO!"_

Hego faltered, the song still playing over the speaker system. He knew that voice…but it had been so long…

"Shego?" he called. "Is that you?"

"_Yes, _it's me! Turn that goddamn music off!"

Hego fumbled for the speaker remote tucked into the waistband and clicked the power button. The music immediately shut off, leaving the tower oddly quiet. He could clearly hear Shego's footsteps as they echoed throughout the hallways, approaching him rapidly.

"Sis!" he exclaimed when his sister rounded the corner, followed by a familiar redhead. "And Kim Possible! It's great to see you both after so long!"

The two women came to a stop in front of him, arms folded tightly over their chests like they were hugging themselves. Neither of them were smiling.

"Is something wrong, ladies?" the superhero asked, an edge of concern entering his tone.

Shego snorted. "Ladies."

Kim glared at her, but it was halfhearted. "Hego, do you by any chance remember going into a store three years ago and putting something back instead of buying something?"

Hego puffed out his already-broad chest proudly. "Of course I do. I'm a hero, remember? I return things often."

Kim shook her head and held out the Kimmunicator. "Watch this and see if you remember it."

Hego took the little device and watched the short clip that was playing over and over again onscreen. The footage was grainy, but he easily recognized the small store. He blinked once, and then twice more in rapid succession.

"Oh," he said quietly. "That."

"What?" Shego stepped up close to her brother, fists clenched and a burning glare on her face. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I remember this," Hego elaborated. "It was before I knew much about anything outside of Go City, mind you. There was a man standing outside the convenience store, wearing a hoodie and sunglasses. He sounded upset from the way he was talking on the phone, so I stopped and asked him what was wrong. He told me that he felt guilty because he had bought four bottles of soda, but had only been charged for two. He requested that I go back in and replace the bottles."

Shego's voice was dangerously low. Hego knew that voice; it was her I'm-a-volcano-just-waiting-to-explode-on-you voice. He was treading dangerous waters here. "And you didn't find that suspicious in any way, _Henry_?"

Hego squirmed at the use of his real name. "I'm a do-gooder. I do good. It's my thing. I don't tend to notice who it is I'm doing good for. You understand, don't you, Miss Possible?" He looked at Kim, probably hoping for her to save him. She merely shook her head a fraction of an inch to each side, her face set in stone.

"Hego," Shego said monotonously, "you never mentioned this before."

"I didn't think it was-"

"I don't_ care _if you thought it was important or not!" Shego finally exploded, throwing her hands up in the air and igniting them angrily. "You didn't mention it because you didn't want to admit that you, the great do-gooder Henry Go, might have made a mistake!"

"Shego, I don't understand why you're making such a big deal out of this. Why does it matter?"

"Why does it matter? _Why does it matter?_ Hego, because you had to go and put those stupid bottles in the cooler without bringing them to the cashier, Kimmie and I-"

"Shego," Kim warned, but the damage had been done.

"You what?" Hego stepped back, eyeing Shego's hands cautiously.

Kim stepped forward and took Shego's arms, gently pulling them back down to her sides. They still burned, but Kim could feel the heat decrease significantly. Hego, of course, was not aware of this, and still kept his gaze fixed on them nervously. "Hego, what do you remember about that man?"

Hego began walking to the main communications room, not replying at first.

"Hego…" prompted his sister, "if you don't want a plasma fried ass, you'll answer the girl within the next five seconds."

Hego sat down in his signature blue chair, looking quite out of place in his rubber duck pajamas. He squirmed slightly under the gazes of the two women. "I remember…he was white," he answered hesitantly. "He had a kind of guttural voice, and he had a lot of muscles under his hoodie. It was…gray, I think, and it had grease stains on it. He smelled like metal and oil."

Shego saw the hidden emotion in her older brother's eyes and raised her hands again, her plasma burning even brighter. "Liar. You're not telling us everything you know."

Hego held up his own hands defensively. "I…I don't know what you're talking about."

"Hego, you have that look in your eyes." Shego narrowed her eyes. "What aren't you telling us?"

Hego glanced at the floor guiltily. "I…I swear I didn't know who he was then. I thought he was just another guy who needed help."

"_Hego._" This time, it was Kim who spoke up, her voice cold. "Who. Was. It?"

Hego bit his lip before replying, his voice barely audible. "You probably know him as Motor Ed."

All the color drained from Kim's face, leaving her pale as a sheet of paper. She sat down in the nearest chair, which happened to be Shego's old green chair, eyes wide and staring at nothing. "Oh my God…"

"Kimmie?" The plasma around Shego's now-trembling hands dissipated, and she walked over to Kim's side numbly. "Kim…"

"Shego, what's going on?" Hego asked slowly.

Shego sat down heavily on the very edge of her chair next to Kim. Both young women seemed to go from strong and defiant to small and frightened within the space of a few seconds.

"Shego, am I missing something?"

Kim pressed close to Shego, wanting nothing more than to be close to the only person she could really trust. Shego responded by wrapping her arms comfortingly around the redhead. Both were trembling and looked to be on the verge of tears. They focused solely on each other, on every single place their bodies touched, as if to try and block out the world.

"It was Motor Ed?" Kim whispered.

Shego bit her lip so hard that tiny droplets of blood emerged. "I should've recognized him. For God's sake, he's Drakken's cousin! I should've realized who he was after…after…" She swallowed. "But E… E didn't say 'Seriously' at all. Motor Ed says it all the time."

Kim shook her head numbly. "It was his voice…" A solitary tear rolled down her cheek. Acting totally out of character, Shego's hand automatically reached up to wipe it away. "It was his voice…it was his voice…"

"Ssshh, Kimmie," Shego said softly. "It won't happen again. I won't let it happen again, at the very least. We'll find him, I promise, and we'll set him straight."

Kim buried her face against Shego's pale emerald neck. Though she was silent, Shego could feel the warm tears coursing down the hero's cheeks and onto her. She fought the tear, the single tear that was threatening to spill over her lashes; she wanted to stay strong for Kim. But everyone, even villains, needed a shoulder to cry on every once in a while, and it was killing Shego to keep her emotions hidden.

Hego cleared his throat awkwardly, feeling even more out of place as he watched the scene in front of him unfold. He still had no idea what had happened between the two women and Motor Ed, but he knew that whatever it was had to have been nothing short of irreversibly traumatic; nothing lesser could have reduced his sister and Kim Possible to…this.

"Shego," he said quietly.

Shego looked up at him, her emerald eyes still burning. "How could you not have mentioned this? You know what happened to me!" After a drawn-out second, she added quietly, "To us…"

Hego remained silent for a moment, trying to put the pieces together. Suddenly his eyes widened, and he stared at the people in front of him in an entirely new light.

"E…" he breathed.

Kim nodded, face still buried in Shego's neck.

"Hego," Shego said softly, "we were drugged. The anesthetic was in those bottles of soda you put in the cooler. It was random, but Kimmie and I were the ones who happened to grab them."

Hego leaned back in his chair, a wave of guilt washing through him. "So…all of this stuff happened because of…me?"

Neither woman replied. For once, Shego couldn't lash out at her older brother, couldn't foist the blame off on someone else. She had no words to explain why; she just…couldn't.

"It's not like you meant to, Hego," Kim said in a small voice after a moment. Shego could feel the redhead's lips brushing her skin as she spoke, and she shivered. "Right?"

Hego could only shake his head. "No. No, no, no…"

Kim nodded again. "It's okay…as long as you didn't know." The tremor in her voice had almost vanished; Shego could barely pick it up as she spoke. She stood up and held out her hand for the Kimmunicator, which the broad man handed to her numbly.

Shego stood up after her, her eyes still fixed on Hego. She had a feeling nagging at the back of her mind. Do-gooder though he was, Hego was not the type of person who did things like secretly return bottles of soda without asking at least one other person if it was okay. She knew something was going on with Hego, but she had no idea why. Hego _looked_ like he was telling them everything he knew…

"Next time something like that happens, Hego," she growled, "tell someone instead of leaving your little sister and a young teen to get raped."

Hego nodded, blinking rapidly, but he didn't reply. His gaze was fixed on his sister's back as she turned around, taking Kim by the hand, and led her out of the room. A few seconds later, he heard the pneumatic hiss of the front door as they exited the tower altogether. Normally, Hego would have immediately turned the music back on. Normally, he would have only worried a little about Shego, knowing that she was tougher than any other person he had ever heard of. Normally, he wouldn't have been presented with news like this.

"You've done well, Hego," a low voice said from the shadows.

A tiny red light pulsed from the origin of the voice, and Hego stiffened. He was completely unaware of what was happening, though it had happened before many times. Each time it happened, his mind went blank. Bare. Impressionable. _Tabula rasa._ An identical red light blinked under his scalp, entirely hidden by his thick mop of bluish-black hair.

Someone walked out from the shadows, tossing a small black remote up and down in his left hand. A sinister smile twisted his mouth. "I wonder how you would feel if you knew what you were doing. If you knew you were betraying your own sister like this."

Hego did nothing. He said nothing. He could only sit there, rigid as a board, until he was told to do something. His blue eyes stared unseeing at the man in front of him, seemingly boring a hole right through him.

"I didn't know how well you'd hold out under questioning," the man went on. "I had a feeling that Kim and Shego would come to see you soon." He chuckled. "I'm glad I was here to see it, though. The two greatest women in the world reduced to that." He went on chuckling softly for a few minutes, but then immediately sobered. "I wasn't expecting you to mention me, though. I thought the chip would've overridden any memory of me. Were you aware of my presence here when you said that?"

"No," Hego said slowly. Nothing more.

"Did you say that with the intention of betraying me?"

"No."

The man seemed to relax slightly. "Good. I suppose you're not entirely useless, are you?"

"No."

"It wasn't a question, Hego," the man snapped, but then he paused, ideas suddenly running through his head a mile a minute. "Oh. _Oh_. This is brilliant!"

"What is brilliant?" Hego asked monotonously.

The man smirked at the sight of the hero in front of him. He was quite intimidating, strong, brave, and entirely impressionable at the moment. _Oh, how I love brain wave technology,_ he thought smugly to himself. "Hego, I have a small task for you."

"Yes?"

The stranger glanced around furtively, like he was suddenly afraid of being overheard, and bent down to whisper into Hego's ear. The helpless hero could only sit, listen, and obey.

"I will do it," he replied when the man drew away.

"Good." Another evil smile crossed the man's face like a shadow, there one moment and gone the next. "I'm going to deactivate the chip again once I'm out of the tower, Hego. Go back to singing your Lady Gaga or whatever you were doing before." _And get the lyrics right,_ he thought. "When the time is right, do what I've instructed."

"When will the time be right?"

"You'll know, Hego. You'll know." The man started to walk away, but then stopped and turned around. "And Hego?"

"Yes?"

"My entire plan rests on your success. Do your part well, and soon Kim Possible and Shego will be good for nothing more than doormats." He began to walk away again. Without turning around, he added quietly, "Seriously."

And he laughed like it was the funniest joke in the world.

* * *

Oh no! Well, now we know it wasn't Hego…entirely. At least he didn't rape his own sister. That would've been just sick and wrong. Wrongsick, even.

Hmmm…who was the strange man controlling Hego? (I hope the last part kind of gave it away…) What is Hego's task? (looks in notebook again) I can never remember my ideas…that's why I write them down.


	7. The Friend Paradox

Sorry this took a little while to write - last-minute Christmas shopping and all. I hope I got everyone... :O Oh well. If I don't post anything else beforehand, Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night! (or morning or afternoon... whenever you read this) :)

I don't own Kim Possible.

* * *

"Princess, it just doesn't add up. Motor Ed can't be E. He just can't be." Shego deftly twisted the steering joystick back and forth, causing the hovercraft to rise above the snow-capped treetops. "I've never known Motor Ed to be as suave as he was…that night. E sounded…almost smart."

"Motor Ed _is_ a mechanical genius," Kim reminded her flatly.

"Well, he doesn't _show_ it!" Shego snapped, adding a hasty "Sorry" when she saw Kim flinch like she had been struck.

"Sorry," she repeated. "Didn't mean to snap."

"S'okay." Kim leaned over the edge of the hovercraft and looked down, watching the landscape whiz by and slowly morph into Middleton. "Shego, can I ask you something?"

"It depends." Shego slowed the hovercraft upon reaching Kim's neighborhood before bringing it to a complete halt over her front yard. "If it involves my name, we've been over this. I'm not telling you my name as of now. Shego is the name I want to hear from you."

"No, it's not that again." Kim shook her head. "It's about that night."

Shego punched the 'HOVER' button on the control console just to make sure they wouldn't crash, and then she left the wheel. She sat down on the edge of the hovercraft next to Kim, almost afraid of what she was about to ask. "Shoot."

"Shego, you're this powerful, brave, plasma-wielding person. You were a hero in your teens, and you were probably stronger than I ever was."

"Probably." Shego looked away, knowing where this was going. Still, she dared to ask, "What of it?"

Kim caught Shego's chin and forced the green villainess to look into her eyes. "I don't get it. Why couldn't you fight E off? Why did you let him r…rape you?"

Shego blinked; she hadn't expected Kim to use that word. "For the same reason you couldn't fight him off. I was drugged and tied down."

Kim's gaze searched Shego's, her olive eyes boring deep into the latter's. "No. That's not all there is, is it?"

Shego didn't reply.

"Shego…why didn't you fight back?"

"Look, Pumpkin," Shego answered eventually, "I didn't have the best childhood. I went through most of my childhood as a green freak. 'The Rainbow Family', my old friends called us. Our parents were divorced when it happened, and my dad died when the comet hit. Maybe that was a blessing in disguise; he was abusive to all of us – even the twins, and they were just babies. Still, he was my father, and I felt like I loved him deep down. I never could stand up to him."

Kim placed her hand on Shego's, worried that she had been prompting her into talking about something she didn't want to. "Shego-"

"I was still with Team Go when E came along," Shego interrupted, clearly wanting to continue. She had kept this bottled up inside her for so long, and it felt kind of good to finally put it out in the open. "I had one foot in the dark at that point, but I was still fighting more or less for the greater good. Then, I didn't have the guts to do what I do now. When E came along…" She took a breath. "I couldn't fight back because he reminded me so much of my father, of what he did to us. No, Kimmie," she added quickly when she saw the appalled look on Kim's face. "I was still a virgin at that point. I meant the beatings." Her hand unconsciously drifted to her stomach.

Kim sat there silently for a moment, processing all that Shego had just revealed to her. The fact that she had been comfortable enough to talk about it with Kim was a miracle in itself; Shego never opened up to anyone, much less her arch foe. She had no idea just how painful Shego's past had been, and how long she'd been forced to deal with it on her own. Wordlessly, she leaned over and embraced Shego gently. She felt the villainess stiffen slightly, not expecting the sudden contact.

"I'm here," she murmured simply. Nothing more need be said.

Shego's arms slowly slid around Kim's body and pulled her in closer. For once, she was glad she had opened up. She was glad that someone else knew why.

"Kimmie…" she said softly.

Kim pulled back slightly so she could meet the woman's emerald gaze. "Yeah?"

Shego almost choked on the foreign words as they passed her lips, but she managed to get them out. "Thank you."

Kim smiled. "Anything for my friend."

Shego blinked. "F…friend?"

"That's what I said."

"I'm your friend?"

Kim laughed a little, poking Shego's shoulder playfully. "Well, after all this I should hope we're not enemies!"

"Sorry." Shego attempted a halfhearted smile in return. "I've just never had many friends. You know. Green."

"I don't give a damn if you're green, Shego. Anyone who does needs to go look in a mirror and evaluate themselves before dissing you."

This time, a genuine smile spread across Shego's black lips. "Watch your language, Princess."

"Hush." Kim shoved Shego away playfully. The green woman smirked, some of her trademark sarcasm returning, and scooted over to the hovercraft controls. With a few smooth flicks of her wrist, she brought the hovercraft down to land gently in the Possibles' driveway. "Don't you have something to go steal?"

"Don't you have something to keep me from stealing?" Shego turned off the hovercraft and vaulted over the edge, landing lightly on the concrete of the driveway. "Moment of truth."

"What do you mean?" Kim inquired, following suit.

"Well, you know the buffoon and Nerdlinger are gonna ask what we found out."

"And Monique," Kim added before she could stop herself.

"Right, sure." Shego waved her hand in the air dismissively, shivering as a particularly cold gust of winter wind hit her right in the face. "The fashionista. Whatever. Even I wouldn't go so low as to lie to them about E."

"Ed," Kim corrected her quietly, reaching down and squeezing her hand gently. "Not E anymore."

"Whoa there, Kimmie," Shego protested. "Save the physical contact for comforting moments." Rolling her eyes, she added, "Which seem to be happening increasingly often now…" However, she didn't take her hand away. Kim, noticing this, gave it another soft squeeze before releasing it.

"You don't have to do this, Shego," she pointed out. "They're my friends, not yours."

Shego's eyes narrowed, and she stepped away from the redhead. Kim stared at her for a second before her eyes widened in realization, and she tried to approach the villainess again. "No Shego, that's not what I meant! It came out wrong, I swear…"

"No," Shego said in a low voice. "No, I don't think it did. You don't want your friends to associate with a criminal, do you? You don't think I've changed at all. You just think that I'm acting friendly so you can catch this bastard, don't you?"

Kim didn't reply. The truth was she hadn't thought about that at all, but now that Shego had brought it up she realized that, deep down, there was some truth in her accusation.

"I knew it," Shego muttered, and she suddenly sounded hurt. "You're too much of a hero to ever be friends with someone like me. You just said that to make me feel better, didn't you? Well guess what – it worked. For a little while, anyways."

Kim finally found her voice. "No, Shego, that's not it at all!"

"So what is it?" Shego said quietly, her voice sharp. Kim was surprised to see tears welling up in her eyes before she looked away. "What exactly did you mean, Kimberly?"

Kim winced when Shego said her name like that. "Shego, please listen to me…"

"I am listening. You're the one not explaining."

Kim suddenly grabbed Shego's shoulders and shook her briefly, forcing the criminal to meet her gaze. "Shego, I'll admit that this _is_ a little weird for me. You and I, we've been enemies for so long…it's just strange being close to you without fighting." She took a breath, certain that any second now Shego was going to either run away or punch her in the face. "It's just so hard to believe that you've actually changed."

Shego, without saying a word, jerked out of Kim's grip and started walking back toward the hovercraft. Kim, in a desperate move, lunged for the woman and knocked her against the hovercraft, pinning her against the cold metal exterior. Shego didn't try to escape; she merely stared into Kim's olive eyes with a teary, deer-caught-in-headlights look.

"But I do!" the redhead said, desperation creeping into her tone. "I do believe you've changed, Shego. I really do. Just because it's hard doesn't mean I don't. I mean…" Her voice faltered a little, and she continued more quietly. "You've been acting so different now. You've been smiling and laughing…and crying…I've never seen you do that before. I didn't mean that I didn't want you near my friends, Shego. I just didn't want you to feel worse by being the one to tell them."

Shego still didn't say anything, but Kim could feel her body become less tense. The emerald woman was still simply staring at her, but Kim was unsure what the stare was supposed to mean.

"Please believe me, Shego," Kim pleaded quietly. "I'm your friend. I want you to be my friend. Mo and Ron are my best friends. If I trust someone, so do they. So I was wrong; they _are _your friends. What you said…it was true, in a sense, but not in the way I wanted. If I wasn't your friend and I really didn't believe you had changed, what would stop me from calling GJ and getting you arrested right now?"

At last, her words seemed to get through to Shego. The woman blinked and broke eye contact with the teenager several moments before speaking. "Look, Kim…everyone I've trusted before, everyone I've been friends with before, they've always betrayed me in some way or another. Then you came along, and I...I just thought it seemed too good to be true, okay? I still think it is."

Kim's mouth turned into a taut little line, and she leaned in close to Shego. Her voice was low and sharp, eyes burning into Shego like they were trying to make a point of their own. "Look, Shego. Get ahold of yourself, dammit! This isn't the Shego I know. The Shego I know would stay strong. She would get in my face and tell me to get the hell out of her business. She sure as hell wouldn't let herself and another girl get raped! So don't you dare say that this is too good to be true when everything is so…so wrong! Just please accept the fact that I'm your friend and I actually mean what I say to you. I know I'm not the same either, but come _on_! You thinking that something is too good to be true when all…all this is happening…that's not the Shego I know and love, and you know it! Please…if not for your sake, then for mine…be strong. Be you."

Shego's gaze snapped up and fixed on Kim, one eyebrow slightly raised. Kim, who was breathing heavily, was satisfied to see the corner of her mouth quirk up in a little smirk, but that satisfaction went out the window when Shego spoke.

"What do you mean, 'love'?"

A dark red blush rushed up to Kim's face, and she stepped away from Shego, refusing to meet her gaze.

"You're right, Kimmie," Shego continued softly. "I'm not the Shego you once knew. But before, when you knew me, you knew nothing about your past, and I knew nothing about yours. Yeah, I want you to trust me. Yeah, I want to be your friend. Yeah, I've changed." Her voice got even quieter. "But what about you, Kim? Haven't you changed, even a tiny bit?"

Kim wasn't sure how their conversation had gotten to this point. All she could do was stand there, staring at the driveway, and stutter, "W-well…I…what I…umm…"

Shego stood up straight and stepped close to Kim again. Her eyes were dry now, and they had that mischievous look in them that reminded Kim so much of the old Shego. "I think you have. The old Kimmie would never have said as many swear words as you just did in the amount of time that you did. Hell, the old Kimmie probably wouldn't have said more than one every six months. The old Kimmie would never have befriended me. The old Kimmie would never have even trusted me." Shego's voice dropped to a whisper. "The old Kimmie would never have said the words 'Shego' and 'love' in the same sentence and failed to deny it."

Kim's face was now a shade of red that rivaled her hair. "Shego, I…"

"You're right, Kimmie," Shego repeated. "I needed to get ahold of myself. I needed to quit acting like the buffoon does when I'm around him." This elicited a small smile from the younger of the two. "This has been hard on both of us. We've both changed, whether we like it or not. Some part of me will always be soft and fragile, and so will you. But lying to each other…that'll just make it all the more difficult. For both of us."

"I don't want that," Kim said in a small voice, feeling like she was burning up under Shego's intense stare.

"Neither do I." Shego sighed. "I want to know the truth about what you think of me, Kim. Do you think I'm still a villain, or have I changed? Am I your friend…or not?"

The way she said "or not" made Kim think that there was a double meaning to her words. She bit her lip to the point where she drew blood. Through her nervousness, she couldn't help but marvel at how fast Shego had recovered from her slump, so to speak. Perhaps she wasn't that different, after all. She still had the same bright emerald eyes, the same pale green skin that so many people deemed freakish but Kim personally loved, the same beautiful face…

Kim blinked wildly._ Whoa…did I just think that about Shego? Did I just describe her as beautiful?_

The funny thing was, she didn't really regret it.

Suddenly, the door of the Possible house flew open. Ron and Monique spilled out, rushing toward the pair next to the hovercraft. Kim stepped away slightly, almost glad that she didn't have to answer Shego.

"Kim!" Monique said breathlessly, skidding to a stop next to her friend. "What did you find out? Was it him?"

Kim shook her head, nodded, and then shook her head again. "No. Well, yes, but it wasn't the 'him' we thought."

"So Hego didn't do it?" Ron pressed, and both Kim and Shego shook their heads. "Then who did?"

Shego glanced sideways at Kim before replying, "Ed Lipsky. Motor Ed."

Ron's eyes bulged, and he had to suppress a gag. "W…what?"

"Yeah." Kim looked up at the cloudy sky. "That was pretty much our reaction, too."

Monique, to her surprise, saw a tear trickle slowly down Shego's cheek. Slowly, not quite realizing what she was doing until she actually did it, she stepped forward and wiped the tear away. Shego's gaze snapped to meet hers immediately. Mo gave a little smile and withdrew her hand.

"Told you," Kim said softly when Shego glanced at her.

"Told us what?" Ron asked, and Monique elbowed him in the ribs. "Ow!"

"Shut up, Ron," she hissed, glaring pointedly at him.

"Okay," Shego said quietly, still looking at Kim. "I believe you. You called it."

Kim smiled and started heading for the front door. "Don't I always? Now come on, guys. In case you haven't noticed, it's starting to snow, and snow equals cold."

"Sherlock," Shego muttered, but she followed the heroine inside.

* * *

"I agree with Shego, Kim," Wade supplied once he was told the entire story. "That doesn't seem like Motor Ed, from what you told me he talked like that night."

"It was his voice," Kim insisted.

"It _was_ his voice, Nerdlinger," Shego allowed. "It just didn't sound like the kind of English little Eddie speaks."

Kim stared at Shego. "Little…Eddie?"

Shego shrugged. "I knew the guy. At least, I thought I did. You should've heard some of the things I called Dr. D."

"Comforting," Kim muttered. "Wade, turned up anything on Motor Ed?"

Wade leaned forward in his computer chair, typing furiously for a moment. Almost immediately, he sat back with a confused expression on his face. "Nothing. It's like he vanished."

"Doesn't GJ try to keep him under surveillance or something?" Kim pressed.

"They've got nothing, Kim. They don't know where he is." Wade massaged his forehead. "This is majorly freaky."

"You have no idea," Shego said under her breath.

Ron, who had been silent ever since the four reentered to Possible family home, suddenly spoke up. "He knows."

Monique cocked her head to the side like a confused puppy, raising an eyebrow. "Come again?"

"He knows," Ron repeated. "Motor Ed knows that you know that he's E."

It took everyone a second to process what he had said. Sometimes, when Ron spoke, his words came out like a maze.

"How do you figure that, buffoon?" Shego inquired after a moment.

"Well," Ron conceded, "think about it. As soon as you and KP got a lead on E, he vanished without a trace. I've been around you guys too long – well, not you, Shego – to believe that coincidences are as common as people say they are. He definitely knows."

Shego, Kim, Monique, and Wade all exchanged glances.

"He's got a valid point," Wade pointed out. "This isn't one of the normal 'Oh-we-just-lost-him-for-a-second' slip-ups. GJ says he literally vanished off the face of the earth, and very recently."

"How recently?" Kim inquired.

Wade checked the GJ database quickly, his fingers flying across the keyboard. "Earlier today."

"Which, might I add," Ron interjected, "is when you guys got the lead on E and went to meet Hego."

"Hego," Shego grumbled. "Lazy lug. Still in his pajamas at six-thirty p.m."

"Ah, Shego?" Kim tapped the villainess' shoulder. "Bigger problem here. I know you don't get along with your brothers that well-"

"That's putting it mildly."

"-but I think we need to focus on finding Motor Ed before something bad happens."

"What do you mean, something bad?" Ron cut in. Monique reached over to slap a hand over his mouth, but the damage had been done.

Kim flopped back on her bed and grabbed Pandaroo, hugging it close to her chest in an effort to find comfort. Shego, noting a lack of any other stuffed animal on the bed, pulled her knees up to her chest and rested her chin on her kneecaps.

"Bad, like, he comes and finds us again," Kim replied, her voice so quiet it was barely audible.

"Drugs us again," Shego added, her tone equal to Kim's.

"Rapes us again." This time, Kim's voice had an unmistakable tremor to it.

"He won't," assured the other three at the exact same time, which brought a small smile to Kim and Shego's faces.

Wade leaned forward again so his concerned face was only a foot or so from his webcam. Kim almost laughed when she saw how much of the Kimmunicator's screen his face took up. "I could always call GJ for you guys, hook you up with some protection."

"No," Shego said quickly. "Criminal, remember? You're supposed to be a genius. Wanted felon plus federal agents equals a big 'effin crisis for me."

"They're not exactly federal," Ron pointed out with a small smile. Shego, caught off guard by the kind gesture, smiled slightly in return.

"Told you," Kim repeated in a sing-song tone.

"Shut it, Possible. You were right. I get it."

"Right about-" This time, Monique managed to cover Ron's wayward mouth in time. Shego caught the movement between the two and giggled – she actually _giggled_ – before she caught herself by covering her mouth.

Kim observed the sudden change in Shego with interest. It wasn't that she disliked the new Shego; this new, happier Shego would just need some getting used to. In fact, ethical views aside, Kim and the new Shego were incredibly similar, something Kim liked. Even so, when it came down to the cold hard truth, Kim didn't care which Shego she had in front of her. If it was Shego in all her glory, so be it. Shego was Shego either way; as long as she was beside her, Kim was happy.

With a start, Kim realized exactly what she was thinking._ She was right…we've both changed a lot, for better or for worse. I never thought I would see Shego in this light. Still…it suits her. I want to look at her this way forever…to think she's just like me on the inside…_

As Kim looked on at Shego, still watching intently as Monique and Ron continued bickering, she was struck with a sudden notion that, inexplicably to her, she immediately accepted as reality.

_I'm falling in love with Shego._

* * *

And she finally realizes it! Will she get up the nerve to tell Shego? Does Shego feel the same, or was Kim just reading her wrong? (I feel like I'm doing a voice-over for a movie preview...)

FYI: There was a major foreshadowing detail in this chapter! And when I say major, I mean MAJOR! I'm not telling what it was, though, or what it foreshadowed...*sinister laugh* Ah, the joys of being the writer.


	8. Unknown Legend

Hi, y'all! I don't even know why I'm on here today...after all, it's Christmas! Just wanted to upload one more chapter before I leave on my big trip to New York...fun! Hoping for snow! Lots of fluff in this chapter, but because it's Christmas I just wanted some sweetness between Kim and Shego. Call me a sap.

And by the way, the title of this chapter is the name of a song by Neil Young. (hint hint, look up the lyrics XD) It doesn't fit Shego perfectly, but it reminded me of her. Sort of.

Merry Christmas to all my lovely readers!

I don't own the show or the characters.

* * *

"Anything, Wade?" were Kim's first words when the boy's image popped up on her monitor.

Wade let out a mock sigh. "Not even a hello, Kim? Really?"

"Hello. Did you find anything?"

Wade shook his head slowly. "No. It's really weird – almost as weird as GJ's losing track of him. I can't find a single thing on Ed's past. I think it's been wiped."

Kim sighed and banged her head on her locker door. "Great. Just what we need."

"Kim, you okay?" Wade asked. "You seem really stressed."

Kim managed a smile, though she kept her forehead pressed to the cool metal of her locker. "I'm okay, Wade. It's been a really long day, and this isn't helping."

"Oh, sorry. I can get off, if you want."

"No!" Kim practically shouted, attracting the stares of many of her classmates. She continued in a hushed voice, "No, Wade. It's not you, I promise. It's this whole sitch with Motor Ed vanishing…I'm just nervous. He might be planning something."

"Kim, I promise that as soon as I find the faintest trace of something involving the words 'motor' and 'Ed' in the same sentence, you'll be the first one I call." With a small, comforting smile, he terminated the link.

Kim stared at the dark screen for a moment before closing her eyes and growling wordlessly under her breath. _This is not happening,_ she tried to convince herself. _He's already in jail. He can't hurt us anymore._

She didn't know how long she stood there, face pressed against her locker door. She heard the dismissal bell ring, but she still didn't move until someone tapped her shoulder.

"Mmm," she mumbled into her locker.

"Kim, are you awake in there?" Another tap on her shoulder. "Kim?"

"Hey, Tara." Kim looked up wearily at her fellow cheerleader. "What's up?"

"Are you okay?" Tara looked worriedly into Kim's eyes. "You seem upset."

Kim shrugged. "No big, I'm fine. Well, it actually is big. History test. Evil."

Tara nodded sympathetically. "Oh, that. You know, I wouldn't be surprised if I failed it."

Kim smiled and closed her locker. "I'm sure you did fine, Tara. You always underestimate yourself in History, and you've got, like, the highest grade in the class."

"Thanks." Suddenly, Tara's eyes widened, and she grabbed Kim's wrist. "Oh, Kim, I almost forgot! There's someone outside waiting for you."

Immediately, alarm bells went off in Kim's head. "Waiting for me? Who?"

The blonde cheerleader shrugged. "I don't know. She had a helmet on."

"'She'?"

"Yeah, she." Tara gestured toward the main door of the school. "She's wearing a tight green jacket and black pants. She's got long hair, too; I could see it coming out from under her helmet. It went down to, like, her waist."

Kim's thin eyebrow rose, and she slung her backpack over her shoulder. "Thanks, Tara. I'll go check it out."

Tara nodded and fell in step beside the redhead. "You know who she is?"

"I've got an idea," Kim said quietly, a tiny smile creeping across her lips.

The pair stepped out of the school, blinking as they were blinded by the sun glinting off the snow.

"She's over there," Tara announced, pointing to a spot on the curb where a small crowd of about twenty students had gathered. Quiet murmurs arose from them; they all seemed to be looking at the same thing. Kim picked her way across the icy sidewalk and elbowed her way through the crowd, occasionally murmuring an "Excuse me" or a "Sorry".

When she reached the front of the crowd, she was greeted with a sight that brought a smile to her face. A tall woman sat on a bright green motorcycle, her arms crossed over her chest. She wore a skintight green blazer and black jeans with boots laced up to her calf. Her long, silky black hair cascaded from under her motorcycle helmet and down her back.

"Hey," Kim said quietly, but loud enough so everyone could hear her. Every single head snapped around to look at her, including that of the woman on the motorcycle.

"Hey," she replied, her voice muffled by the helmet. One gloved hand rose and beckoned Kim forward, and she approached like she had no other choice. "Ready to go?"

Kim tightened the straps on her bag and took Shego's outstretched hand, allowing the woman to pull her onto the motorcycle. She wrapped her arms tightly around the emerald woman's waist and rested her head on her shoulder. Inside her helmet, Shego's black-painted lips curled into a smile at the contact. She turned the key in the ignition, and the motorcycle roared to life. Kim's grip on Shego tightened at the sound, and even more so as she pulled away from the curb and the gawking crowd of people. Unbeknownst to the redhead, Shego wanted nothing more than to turn around and embrace the girl in return. However, given the fact that she was the driver, it would be a jab at suicide. Chuckling to herself at the thought, she reveled in the foreign warmth of Kim's tight embrace as she accelerated, weaving through traffic like she hadn't a care in the world.

It didn't take very long to reach Kim's house. Shego pulled up into the driveway and yanked the key out of the ignition. The engine faded smoothly from a steady roar to a quiet putter, and then silence.

"This is my baby, right here," Shego said fondly, patting the machine's left handlebar. "She'll get you anywhere you want to go faster than that Sloth of yours."

"I happen to like my car," Kim retorted, slightly miffed. "The car which, thanks to you, is still in the school parking lot."

Shego laughed and pulled off her helmet, dangling it off of one of the handlebars. She turned around on the seat of the motorcycle to face Kim. "You're welcome. I guess I'll just have to give you a ride to school tomorrow to get it."

Kim raised an eyebrow. "I could always walk."

"I could always abduct you."

Kim shrugged; she had to give that one up. "Fair. Why _did_ you come to my school? People were looking at us like we were g…girlfriends." She stumbled over the last word, and this did not go unnoticed by Shego.

"You don't like it when I pick you up?" she inquired, her tone absolutely sincere.

"No!" Kim replied quickly, then realized what she had said. "I mean, yes, I do…it just surprised me. I'm not used to it."

"Well, get used to it, Pumpkin," Shego teased, tapping Kim's nose with her index finger.

_Pumpkin_. For the first time, Kim didn't wince inside when she heard the pet name. Instead, she felt a sensation bubbling in her stomach – something warm that she couldn't place.

"Still," she continued, trying to conceal the fact that something had arisen in her, "do you think you could be a little less…I don't know…showy? I could tell Tara was crushing on you just by listening to her describe you."

"Tara? Blonde girl, about your height, cheerleader?" Kim nodded slowly, suspiciously. "She's cute."

Kim blinked. "Wait…what? You're not…freaked out that a girl likes you?"

Shego's emerald eyes fixed on Kim's. "No. Why would I be?"

Kim furrowed her brow for a moment, thinking. There was a thought (no, a _hope_) nagging at the back of her mind; it had been for a while. She had just been too afraid to ask about it. But now, hearing what Shego was saying, she was finally compelled to ask.

"Shego, are you…a lesbian?"

"Yes," Shego answered promptly, unfazed. " Why do you ask?"

Kim blinked again at her immediate and apparently truthful answer. "Oh…I don't know." Inside, she was thinking, _Okay, that's one more thing off my mind. Now I know I've got more of a chance with her…whoa, whoa, whoa, what am I thinking? I'm doing it again! I can't be with her! She's a villain! I'm…I'm…_

"Kim, you okay? You're making weird faces…"

Kim shook her head to clear her mind. "I'm all right, Shego."

Shego, unconvinced, peered at her. "You don't seem all right. Does it bother you that I'm a lesbian?"

"No," Kim replied. "I have no problem with it."

Shego leaned back against the handlebars and folded her arms, looking over Kim thoughtfully. After a moment of uncomfortable silence, she said, "Are _you?_"

Kim, caught off guard by the question, said, "What?"

"Are you a lesbian?" Shego clarified.

"Oh…" Kim's stomach jumped as the words left Shego's mouth. "Um…no. I'm…um…bisexual."

"Does that bother you?" Shego sat up a little straighter and grasped Kim's shoulders. "'Cause let me tell you right now, Princess: if you're not okay with it, you'll go through your life feeling miserable."

Kim squirmed, trying to look anywhere but at Shego. "It doesn't bother me…um, Shego, can we please drop the subject?"

"You're an awful liar, Kimmie. Why does it bother you?"

Kim bit her lip, silently praying for anyone, _anyone_ to come and save her from having to have this conversation. However, Monique and Ron's last-minute save of the previous day was not forthcoming again. She was on her own.

"I…I don't know," Kim said eventually. "I just don't know exactly what I am anymore."

"'Anymore'?" Shego perked up at this. "What do you mean by that?"

Kim swore under her breath. "Um…I didn't mean to-"

"Awful liar," Shego repeated in a sing-song voice. "You totally meant to say that. What did you mean?"

Kim took a deep breath, but she still didn't look at Shego. "I meant…you know I liked guys, right?"

Shego nodded. "Course I did. Remember that night when you almost disappeared?"

Kim winced at the memory. "That was just cruel of you."

"It was funny," Shego protested, chuckling.

"Not for me. Anyways, you knew that. Well, now that you've come along and you're no longer trying to kill me…" She trailed off, wringing her hands.

"Yeah?" Shego prompted softly, leaning forward.

"I…I just don't know exactly what I am anymore," Kim repeated quietly. Suddenly she stood and got off the motorcycle, walking briskly toward her front door. "I…I…I need to go get started on my homework."

Shego merely sat there and watched her go, a small smile touching her lips. _She's so cute when she's all flustered like that,_ she thought. _I wonder what she's thinking…how she really feels. How does she feel about _me_? Does she know how I feel about her?_

Like she was afraid that the truth of the statement would vanish if she said nothing, she murmured softly, "I love you, Kim."

Too bad she wasn't there to hear her say it.

* * *

By seven thirty, Kim was just about finished with the day's homework. She was proofreading her History paper for the fifth time when she heard footsteps clomping up the stairs toward her room.

"Kimmie? You up here, sweetie?"

"In my room, Mom," Kim hollered in return. "How was work?"

"Oh, it was okay." Anne Possible's head poked up through the hole in Kim's floor that served as her door. "One really big operation on the frontal lobe of a young man's brain. It was nothing major; we got the tumor out in no time. Can I come up?"

"Sure," Kim replied. _Only _my _mother wouldn't classify brain surgery as 'major'._ "Any word from Dad?"

"Yes. He definitely won't be home in time for dinner tonight, and he's expecting to have to stay until close to midnight. By the way, Kimmie, why is your arch nemesis asleep in our driveway?"

Kim almost missed the second part, having gone back to her essay. "I'm sorry, what? I must've heard wrong."

"Your arch nemesis is outside," Anne replied, surprisingly calm, "and sleeping on her motorcycle. She looks like a snowman – must've been there a while."

Kim's eyes widened, and she stood up faster than lightning. "She's _what?_ It's snowing out there!"

"Kim, am I missing something?" Anne inquired.

"Um…I'll tell you later," Kim answered quickly, scooting past her mother – who still hadn't actually entered the room – and sprinting down the stairs toward the front door. She flung it open a bit harder than necessary, shivering as a sudden gust of freezing wind slammed into her like a physical blow. Sure enough, Shego was still out there, head resting on the handlebars of her parked motorcycle. Her eyes were closed, and snow was settling on top of her.

"Shego!" Kim called out, her voice echoing throughout the quiet evening air. The woman did not respond. "Shego?"

After five minutes of fruitless summons, Kim slipped on the first pair of shoes she could find – her father's loafers – and trudged out into the snow, hugging her arms tightly around herself in an effort to warm herself. She didn't understand how Shego wasn't a lime-flavored Popsicle by now.

"Shego?" she repeated when she was by the woman's side. "Shego, wake up."

Shego cracked one eye open briefly, shivering, and then closed it again, mumbling something.

"I can't hear you, Shego."

"I'm tired. Go 'way."

"Shego, it's snowing. You can't sleep out here."

"'S I can, 'f I wanna."

Kim blinked, trying to understand what Shego had just said. "Um…no, you can't. You're going to freeze to death out here."

"So what?"

This caught the heroine by surprise. "You don't care if you die?"

"Mmm."

"Was that a yes or a no?"

"Mmm."

Kim shook her head and brushed some of the snow off of Shego. "I'm not letting you freeze. You're coming inside whether you like it or not."

Shego shrugged weakly, head still resting on the handlebars. It was that simple gesture that made Kim remember what had happened to her a few days ago, the incident that had sparked this whole escapade. Shego, the great plasma-wielding woman, was freezing her tail off in the middle of winter and didn't give a damn about it. Kim, however, did. Gently, she scooped the woman up in her arms, ignoring her feeble demands to be put down. She was surprisingly light for an adult, weighing about the same as Kim. The redhead held her close to her chest as she ferried her back to the house, trying to warm the emerald woman's freezing body.

Anne Possible was waiting for her by the door. When she brought Shego in, she gave her daughter an odd look but did not protest, much to Kim's relief. She carried her former nemesis into the living room and set her down gently on the couch, grabbing some blankets from the nearby armchair and covering her with them. Shego wasn't protesting anymore; she didn't have the strength to argue. All she had wanted to do was stay out there – but _no_, the stupid hero wouldn't even let her do that.

At least she still got to sleep.

* * *

Kim stayed by Shego's side most of the night, refusing to be dissuaded by her mother. Even when her father came home, she merely waved at him and went right back to watching the sleeping woman. In her hand she clutched a warm cloth, dabbing Shego's face with it every time she shivered. She had lit a blazing fire in the fireplace; it filled the room with a soft glow and warmed the air.

Around two in the morning, Shego stirred. Kim withdrew her hand and dropped the cloth into a bowl of water, which she placed over on the hearth. She didn't want to wake Shego with the sounds of the microwave. When she returned to the couch, Shego's eyes were open and following her every move.

"Why am I inside?" were her first words.

"Déjà vu, that's why. You fell asleep in the snow. I wasn't about to let you freeze to death."

"Maybe I wanted to."

"Why the _hell_ would you want to do that, Shego?"

Shego turned her head and buried her face in her pillow, mumbling something that Kim couldn't understand.

"Shego." Kim gently cupped Shego's head and forced her to look up. "Now tell me why the hell you would want to freeze to death."

Shego glared at the redhead. "Let me go. Let me go back outside and sleep."

"Maybe I will, after you tell me. Was it something I did?"

Shego glanced at the fire, for a moment imagining that it was her own plasma. The flames flickered and danced in a similar way, occasionally spitting out tiny embers that died in midair. "Kim…you ran away from me."

"Oh." Kim bit her lower lip anxiously. "Well…I was nervous, and…wait, why would that make you want to kill yourself?"

Shego winced. "I didn't want to kill myself."

"But you said-"

"Look, it doesn't matter what I said, all right? I just needed to be alone, and sometimes losing consciousness is the only way to be truly alone."

Kim folded her arms over her chest. "That's the most bull-filled excuse I've ever heard."

"You're not getting another one." Shego sighed heavily. "Kim, I just wanted to be alone."

To emphasize the fact that Shego would not in fact be getting her wish, Kim lifted the woman's torso up from the couch and sat down where it had just been. She gently set Shego's body down in her lap and smirked.

"You're insufferable," Shego grumbled, trying to scoot away from her, but she was too weak to do so. Kim smiled as she remembered the last time those words had been spoken, in a situation much like this one. _Oh, how the tables have turned._

"Tell. Me. Why." Kim's voice was firm. "Now."

Shego tried to sit up again, but Kim forced her back down. The emerald woman growled under her breath and finally said, "You ran away from me because you don't, right?"

Kim's eyebrow rose. "I ran away from you because I don't run away from you?"

"That's not what I meant." Shego attempted to sit up a final time, but Kim wouldn't allow her to. "Dammit, Kim, let me up!"

Kim was silent for a moment. "Please, Shego. I won't ask again."

Shego was about to shoot back a snippy comment, but the words died in her throat. Looking into Kim's eyes, she could read the teen's emotions. It may have been the strange, flickering glow of the fire, but she could have sworn that she saw love there. It was that single emotion that gave Shego the courage to speak.

"Kim…" she said eventually, "I thought you ran away because I was scaring you – making you nervous. I know I've been acting odd lately, but that's just because…just because I like you. I really, really like you, Kim."

The redhead's eyes widened, and the burning feeling in the pit of her stomach returned. "Shego…"

"I never wanted you to know," Shego muttered quietly. "I didn't want to get hurt."

Kim shook her head. "Shego, I…that's not why I ran away. Well, it sort of is, but not really."

Shego raised a slender black eyebrow expectantly, somehow managing not to meet Kim's eyes. "I'm listening."

Kim took a breath. "I was scared. I didn't want to read you wrong. I was imagining that I would misinterpret your intentions and react wrong, and then where would I be? Humiliation Nation."

"Well, sorry," Shego snapped. "Didn't mean to humiliate you."

"That's not what I meant! Shego, I…I…" After a few failed attempts at speaking, Kim gave up on words and threw caution to the wind, pulling the pale woman up against her in a tight embrace. Shego, though initially startled by the sudden contact, returned the hug with all the tenderness she could muster from her dark soul.

"This is just waiting to end badly," she murmured in Kim's ear.

"You don't know that," Kim replied softly. "It could be the beginning of something beautiful."

Shego pulled away to meet Kim's gaze, a genuine smile crossing her lips. Somehow, the flickering light of the fire made it seem even warmer and more affectionate.

"I'm scared," she admitted, her smile wavering for a second.

Kim nodded in understanding. After all, they had every right to be scared of a relationship after what had happened to them. "I am too." She noticed Shego biting back laughter. "What?"

"It's just…you're Kim Possible, the girl who can do anything, but you're scared." Shego shrugged. "Seems kinda awkward to me."

"I'm Kim Possible, the girl who can do anything – _including_ being scared," Kim corrected gently, a smile flickering across her face.

"The girl who can do anything – even love an older woman?"

That question seemed to drain all of the happiness out of the room. Kim drew a deep breath and looked at the woman still draped limply across her lap. "What?"

"I know you heard me," Shego replied. "You can still love me even though I'm an adult? Even though I'm green? Even though I'm a wanted criminal?"

Kim blinked. She had never heard Shego speak of herself so…distastefully. She had always been so high and mighty, the psychologically superior of the duo. Now, though, it sounded like she was at war with her own being. She sounded almost vulnerable.

"Shego," she said after a moment, glancing briefly at the fireplace, "I only want to say this once. I don't care if you're green. I don't care if you're a criminal now, as long as you try to stop from here on out. As for being an adult, age is just a number."

"I'm not that much older," Shego put in. "How old did you think I was?"

"I always thought you were in your early thirties."

Shego looked offended. "I am not! I'm twenty-two, thank you very much."

"Twenty-two?" Kim closed her eyes, doing the math in her head. "But you have a degree. It takes longer than four years to get a degree like you have."

"I was a smart kid. I graduated very early."

"Graduated high school or college early?"

"Both. Is there a point to this?"

"Yes." Kim opened her eyes again and looked at Shego tenderly. "Shego, I don't care how old you are. Frankly, that isn't the worst age difference there could be." Her voice softened. "I care about what kind of person you are on the inside. I don't know what you see," she added quickly when Shego opened her mouth, "but I see a beautiful and caring woman who would do anything to help the people she loves. That's why I like you, Shego. No – that's why I love you."

Tears welled up and threatened to spill over Shego's dark lashes. "Kim…I love you."

Kim pulled Shego up into another warm embrace. The emerald woman buried her face in Kim's fiery hair, inhaling her sweet scent and memorizing it. Eventually they found themselves lying down on the couch, not knowing exactly when they had done so. They didn't care, though. For the long, drawn-out moment that they were together, it was like there was nothing else in the world. There was only warm darkness, only the sweet aroma of the other, only the feel of their arms around each other. Nothing more happened, and both of them were perfectly all right with that. They wanted to make the other feel safe.

However, the pair was unaware that they were being watched. Anne Possible, hair ruffled from sleep and clad in a fluffy white robe, leaned against the doorway. She had overheard everything they had said, and it was this that finally convinced her that Shego was no threat to her daughter. She could afford to be left alone. With a small smile on her face, she turned and tiptoed back up to bed, taking care that she was neither seen nor heard.

Kim and Shego, blissfully unaware that they had not been alone, remained in each other's arms for the rest of the night. It was the first peaceful sleep either of them had gotten for a long time.

* * *

HAHA! Fluff makes Seriadne happy! Of course, lots of things make me happy...it was torture for me to have to wait on writing the part where they got together. As a result, I probably did it too soon, but oh well. It's out of my system now. ^_^ Next chapter coming soon! Please R&R and I will love you forever! In the spirit of the season, of course.


	9. Turning Tables

Hey y'all! Sorry for the long wait; school's starting up again. New semester, new classes...bleh. Hope everyone had an amazing Christmas and a Happy New Year!

I don't own Kim Possible. If I did, I would bring it up at least to Season 7.

* * *

Monique was fully expecting an apocalypse for a few reasons.

One: Kim was late to Bueno Nacho because she was with Shego. The two were mortal enemies, or so Monique thought. Them spending time together without going for each other's throats was just too ferociously weird.

Two: Ron was about to fall asleep with a full plate of grande-sized Nacos in front of him. This was made even stranger by the fact that Ron hadn't eaten anything since his traditional breakfast Naco. He hadn't even gotten his midday snackage, to her knowledge.

Three: Rufus had stayed at Ron's house, miming a full stomach. In all the years she had known Ron, she had never seen him without his little naked mole rat buddy, nor had the rodent ever been full.

After almost ten minutes, Monique got sick of watching Ron drool. "Ron, either wake up and eat or go home and sleep."

Ron blinked and focused his gaze on the Nacos. "Oh…sorry. Just waiting for KP."

"'Just waiting for KP' wouldn't take away your appetite for Nacos, Ron." Monique leaned across the table, propping her head up with her hands. "Why're you buggin'?"

Ron took a halfhearted bite of one of his Nacos, ignoring the cheese sauce that dribbled down his chin. Monique, disgusted, leaned even further over and wiped it away with a napkin.

"Thanks," he acknowledged, and then sighed. "It's just this whole thing with Shego. I don't buy it."

Monique raised an eyebrow. "Really? 'Cause you're the most gullible person I know."

Ron scowled. "Funny." He took another bite of his Naco, practically gobbling the entire thing in an attempt to keep from dripping. "It's just weird. In all the years you're known Shego, would you have pegged her for the type to up and get herself raped?"

"Ron, getting raped isn't a choice," Monique admonished. "Give her a chance. That type of thing changes people, especially when they have to come out about it."

"I guess," Ron replied, sounding unconvinced. Suddenly, his gaze flicked to the window, watching as a familiar violet Sloth pulled up to park in between Monique's Mustang and his own scooter. "Hey, Kim's here."

The pair watched through the window as Kim got out of her car and walked to the passenger side door. She opened it with a dramatic flourish, bowing like a chauffeur would as another woman stepped out of the car and curtsied. Immediately, both women dissolved into laughter.

"Case in point," Monique said triumphantly, leaning back. "She's changed."

Shego and Kim walked into Bueno Nacho, still stifling giggles, and briefly looked around before approaching Ron and Monique's table.

"_There_ you are," Ron said, a playful smile appearing out of nowhere on his face.

"Sorry, guys." Kim smiled apologetically. "I was out with Shego and we lost track of time."

Monique nodded in understanding. While Ron went back to attacking his platter of Nacos, she happened to glance down just below table level. Kim and Shego were holding hands, their fingers intertwined to the point where they looked impossible to untangle. Shego's pale thumb stroked Kim's hand rhythmically from time to time.

"Hey, Kim?" she asked suddenly. "Can I talk to you for a sec?"

"Sure you can." Kim caught her friend glancing at their joined hands and stepped away hurriedly. Shego took no notice, acting like they had never been touching in the first place. "What's up?"

Monique jabbed a thumb pointedly at the restroom. "Privately."

Kim furrowed her brow and stepped to the side so Monique could slide out of the booth. The redhead allowed herself to be led to the small restroom of the Mexican restaurant, all the while maintaining her confused expression. "Is something wrong?"

Monique merely shook her head and shoved Kim into the restroom. As soon as the door latch clicked into place, she whirled back around to face her friend. "All right, spill."

Kim blinked; she could feel sweat collecting at her brow. She knew what this was about. "S…spill? About what?"

"About what? _About what_?" Monique clasped her hands and shook them in front of Kim's face. "This, girl! Why were you and Shego holding hands? TME!"

Kim bit her lip, trying to be subtle about it, but Monique noticed. "We weren't-"

"Don't pull that with me, GF. You're an awful liar, and I saw it either way." Monique's eyes widened and she let out a childlike gasp. "Is it what I think it is?"

"Depends." Kim avoided meeting her friend's gaze.

A slow smile spread across Monique's face. "You…and Shego…"

Kim closed her eyes and leaned against the stucco of the restroom wall. "Yeah. Yeah, that's it."

She braced herself for what she thought would be a barrage of questions and criticisms, but it was not forthcoming. Instead, Monique clasped her hands again and cooed, "Aww!"

Kim slowly opened her eyes. "You're not upset?"

"O' course not, girl!" Monique exclaimed. "You two are so cute in love!"

A hot blush spread across Kim's face, and she looked away again. "Mo…"

"What? It's true, and you know it." The mocha-colored girl lowered her voice mischievously. "Planning on knockin' her up soon?"

"_Monique!_" Kim blushed even more furiously at that comment. "No, thanks very much! Neither of us could handle it," she added in a lower voice.

Monique blinked; she couldn't quite believe that she had forgotten so quickly. "Sorry."

"S'ok." Kim shrugged halfheartedly. "I haven't even kissed her yet."

"Scared?"

"Uh-huh."

Monique patted Kim's shoulder comfortingly. "Why? You know Shego's afraid of the same thing. She has no reason to hurt you like Motor Ed did. Why would she?"

Kim didn't reply. She hugged herself tightly, wrapping her arms around her chest.

"If she's okay with it, go for it," Monique encouraged. "Just not here. Ron would freak out."

That elicited a laugh from the redhead. "That would be hilarious."

"Yeah, you'd think that until he sprays half-eaten Naco all over you."

At that moment, a familiar ringtone echoed throughout the bathroom. Kim, eager and grateful for a rescue, whipped her Kimmunicator out of her pocket and turned it on. "Wade! What's the sitch?"

Wade opened his mouth to speak and then paused briefly. "Kim…are you in the bathroom?"

Monique slapped a hand over her mouth, trying to muffle her laughter. Kim rolled her eyes and focused back on Wade, smiling slightly. "Just standing in front of the sink in Bueno Nacho, Wade. Find anything?"

Wade made a funny face, one that Kim didn't quite have a name for. "Kind of. He still hasn't been spotted anywhere so far as I can tell."

"So what did you find?" Kim pressed.

"Medical records…kind of."

"Again with the 'kind of'? What's that supposed to mean?"

Wade squirmed, grateful that Kim wasn't actually in the room with him. "I found evidence of medical records. They've been wiped too, but the evidence suggests something unusual."

"What?"

Wade shrugged. "I can't tell. Maybe he got a rare disease or something. I don't know if I can recover the info."

Kim sighed in disappointment. "It's okay, Wade. Don't overwork yourself." She turned the small device off and slipped it back into her pocket, biting her lip. "Mo…"

"Go on," Monique said soothingly. "Shego would want to know. I'll keep Ron busy."

* * *

"Wiped?" Shego repeated faintly, sitting down on the hood of Kim's car. "Everything?"

Kim nodded sadly, sitting down beside her girlfriend. "All he could find were the ghosts of some old medical records. He couldn't recover details."

"So we still know nothing about Motor Ed." Shego sighed and wrapped her arms around her chest uncomfortably. "I don't like this at all, Kimmie."

"Neither do I." Kim shrugged. "We could always call in a favor from GJ to guard us…"

"No," Shego said immediately. "Please, no. Anything but the cops."

Kim held up her hands defensively. "Okay, okay! No GJ. What do you suggest we do, then?"

Shego suddenly seemed very interested in drawing patterns in the frost on Kim's car hood. Kim watched as a flurry of conflicting emotions passed over her face, lingering for a moment in her emerald eyes.

"I don't know," she said finally. "I honestly don't know."

Kim heard a slight tremor in her voice; she scooted closer to the woman and embraced her gently. "He's not gonna hurt you, Shego. I'll make sure of that."

"What if he hurts you and I can't stop him?"

"Shego." Kim pulled away and looked her jade beauty in the eye. "You are the strongest woman I know. You can do anything you can set your mind to. You hear me? _Anything_." She took a deep breath and leaned in again, placing a swift peck on Shego's ebon lips. "That's why I love you."

Shego stiffened, obviously shocked by the unexpected contact. Kim felt this and drew away slightly, a confused and slightly hurt look on her face.

"What…was _that_?" the older woman managed to get out, her eyes wide.

"Sorry," Kim said quietly, glancing away. "I…I didn't mean to scare you. It's just…someone helped me realize that I had nothing to be scared about with you, and…and I've wanted to do that for a while, actually. I'm sorry…I shouldn't havmmmphh…"

Kim was cut off abruptly when Shego leaned in and pressed her lips against the eighteen year-old's softly. It was Kim's turn to be surprised; after a moment, though, she found herself succumbing to Shego's gentle kiss. Somehow, though both of their eyes were closed in contentment, their hands met, their fingers twining together with a gentle caress.

* * *

"It's gonna be hard without Kim or Rufus here," Ron complained.

"What, you think I'm gonna cheat?" Monique snatched one of the Nacos from Ron's plate and held it in a ready position in front of her mouth. "I'm insulted."

"We need a ref," Ron whined, though he was already reaching for a Naco. "It's not the same if you have to ref for yourself."

"Oh, hush. You ready?"

"Guess so." Ron licked his lips in preparation. "First to drip loses. Three…two…one…NACO!"

Both eighteen year-olds attacked their Nacos with a ferocity known only to them, wolfing down the Mexican combo like it was the last food they would ever see. To them, Naco-eating was an art. Monique tended to scarf down her entire meal without taking a sip of whatever drink she had, while Ron preferred to "keep his throat moist" as he put it. Periodically, Ron would break his gaze from his food and reach for his soda.

This went on for about three minutes. By that point, both of them were two-thirds of the way through their respective Nacos. Ron, licking his lips again though there wasn't anything there to lick off, glanced up to get his soda. His gaze flicked out the window and back to his drink briefly, and then he performed a spectacular double-take. His current bite of Naco stuck in his throat. His hazel eyes practically bugged out of his head as he leaned down over the table, coughing and attempting to hit himself on the back. Monique, knowing that no action was required as long as he was still coughing, stopped eating and watched her friend apprehensively.

"Ron?" she inquired when his coughing seemed to be lessening. "You okay?"

Ron blinked a few tears out of his eyes and cleared his throat again. "Mo?"

"Hmm?" Monique, satisfied that Ron was no longer going to choke, eyed her Naco hungrily.

"Am I hallucinating?"

"What?" Monique twisted around in her seat, following Ron's gaze. When she saw what he was looking at, she bit her lip and swore inwardly.

Kim and Shego were perched on the frosty hood of Kim's car together, kissing each other with a slow and gentle passion that made Monique want to "Aww!" despite the situation. Their hands were clasped together in the five-inch space between their bodies, Shego's pale jade skin standing out in stark contrast with Kim's own peach tones.

Monique groaned. Wasn't this the exact thing she had asked Kim _not_ to do in front of her lifetime best friend?

"Yeah, you're hallucinating," she said, hoping Ron would buy it.

Ron scowled, his gaze still fixed on the couple outside in the chilly December air. "KP…and Shego? Dating?"

Monique didn't reply.

"That…that is just sick and wrong! Wrongsick! There are so many rules against them right now!"

Monique raised a slender eyebrow. "Again with the rules? They don't exist, Ron."

"I will not be dissuaded!" Ron pumped a fist in the air vehemently. "They're both women! They're on different sides of the law! Shego used to punch and kick Kim! And mean it! They were tougher than Pain King and Steel Toe! Shego's a complete and total bitch!"

"Ron!" Monique gasped. "She is not!"

"Not all the time, at least. This makes no sense! How can Shego suddenly like Kim? She's up to something, I know it. I can't let Kim be with her!"

"Ron, shut up and watch them for a second." Monique herself turned and watched the two women. Their lips had parted, but their foreheads were still pressed together as they gazed into each other's eyes lovingly. A small smile danced around Shego's painted lips, one that no one had ever seen from the villainess before. No one, that is, except Kim.

"Can't you see it?" Monique said quietly after a moment. "They really love each other, Ron. The only reason that Shego acts like a complete and total bitch is that her entire life was ruined."

"Hmph."

"Ron, think about it. She doesn't get along with her family. She was raped. Now she can't look forward to having a first, because her first was a mad and raving lunatic who's in love with machines. Every person wants their first to be someone they really care about and love, and she can't have that. She can never feel the same way about men again, even men in her own family. She's eternally scared, Ron. I would be too."

Ron didn't uncross his arms, but then again his eyes weren't quite so unforgiving anymore. "Well…"

"Let them be," Monique cajoled. "They've been through a lot, and neither of us can pretend to understand them."

Ron shook his head and closed his eyes in frustration. "Mo, I'm not trying to relate to them. I wouldn't want to be able to relate to that. It's just hard, ya know?"

"I know," Monique replied, her gaze still glued on the couple outside. "Just try to shove your feelings back for now, 'kay? She might need us."

Naturally, Ron assumed she was talking about Kim, and he nodded amiably. Monique herself, however, was unsure which woman she was talking about.

* * *

Kim shuffled down the sidewalk, hands jammed in her jacket pockets. Her boots scuffed little trails in the icy pavement as she walked. She watched as her breath formed opaque curls in the air, and the hint of a smile touched her face. _Like Shego's plasma._

The redhead couldn't seem to get her mind off of Shego. Everything about the older woman mesmerized her: her sparkling emerald eyes, her pale jade skin, her rippling raven hair that revealed green highlights when caught by the sun, her grace and flexibility in everything she did, even her sarcasm.

_She's so beautiful,_ Kim thought dreamily. _She's my green goddess. She's all mine. I almost can't believe it._

At times, the heroine couldn't understand just what Shego saw in her, what made the green villainess want to be with her. Sure, she was just that – a heroine – but she and Shego were on opposite sides of the law. Wouldn't that put her off in itself? Not to mention a whole plethora of other little quirks Kim had.

With numb fingers, Kim fished her cell phone out of her jeans pocket and dialed Ron's number. She figured the blonde boy would be home by now; it had been almost an hour after she and Shego had left the Mexican restaurant. Ron never stayed very long without Kim unless something was wrong and he wanted to be alone. She listened to his home phone ringing, the sound from the other line clearly audible in the still winter air.

On the fourth ring, a woman picked up the phone. "Stoppable residence."

"Hi, Mrs. Stoppable, it's Kim," the redhead greeted, trying to sound alert and focused. She shook all images of Shego out of her head.

"Well, hello there, Kimberly!" Mrs. Stoppable's voice immediately became more upbeat. "It's been a while since I've spoken to you. How're your folks?"

"Normal." Kim shrugged. "They spend a lot of time at work nowadays. Is Ron there?"

"No. As a matter of fact, he called a few minutes ago to say he would be staying at Bueno Nacho late tonight. Want me to give him a call for you?"

"Dammit," Kim swore under her breath. "No, Mrs. Stoppable, I'll call him. Thanks anyway."

"Any time, dear."

The line went dead, leaving Kim staring at her cell phone blankly for almost a minute. Ron hadn't left Bueno Nacho? He was there alone? She knew for a fact that Monique had left; they had seen each other leave. What was wrong with Ron?

Kim shook herself out of her daze and dialed another number, this one Ron's cell. She waited, pacing back and forth on the deserted city sidewalk. She heard a click just as she was being directed to Ron's voicemail, and then the recording cut off. A muffled voice said, "Hello?"

"Hey Ron," Kim said, breathing a sigh of relief. "I was about to get worried. You weren't at your house when I called. Is something wrong?"

The sounds of chewing and swallowing filtered through the line. When Ron's voice came through again, it was considerably clearer. "Wrong? No, nothing's wrong. Nothing at all. Just felt hungrier than usual, that's all. Monique felt the same way. She's in the bathroom now."

"Ron, I saw Mo leave right before me. You're there alone, which you never do anymore. What's going on?"

"I told you, nothing. It doesn't involve me." Ron took another bite of his food, and Kim winced at the disgusting sounds his chewing made.

"'It' implies that you know what it is." Kim paused, trying to find a better way to word what she had just said. Suddenly, her eyes widened and she stopped dead. "Oh my God, Ron."

"Yeah." The blonde picked up his soda and slurped it down noisily. "That."

"Ron, I…I mean…" Kim tried to search for the right words. "How much did you see?"

Ron didn't answer right away, instead taking another bite of his meal. After a moment he replied, "Enough."

Kim swore under her breath again, scrunching her eyes shut. "Ron, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean for you to see that. It just…"

"It just happened?"

Kim sighed. "Yeah."

"Why didn't you just tell me? That would've been better than looking up from my Naco and nearly choking because I see my best friend and a villainess making out in front of the window!"

"We weren't making out!" Kim said indignantly.

"It sure looked like it. Kim, this is wrong on so many levels. She's a villainess, she's a woman, and-"

"And what?" Kim was yelling now, tears threatening to spill down her cheeks. "What do you have against lesbians and bis? Can't you see that she's changed? I…I love her, Ron. Why can't you accept that?" She paused for breath, blinking quickly. "You're my best friend, Ron, and you always will be. I'd support anything you chose to do or anyone you chose to be with. All I ask is that you do the same for me."

Ron didn't speak for a long moment. He didn't even take a bite of his Naco. What Kim had said hit him hard, right in his heart. He should have been supporting her in her choice – he knew that – but it was so hard for him. He was acting totally selfish.

"Fine," he said eventually. "I'm not happy about it, but I'll support you."

Kim wasn't fooled. She could hear the cold rejection in his voice and knew that he wanted nothing to do with Shego. The dam broke, and tears poured down the woman's face. She fell to her knees on the icy sidewalk, sobbing with the phone still clamped between her ear and her shoulder. Her head throbbed with the force of the pent-up tears, making a sound in her head similar to the beating of a drum.

Ron could hear his friend crying over the line, and he immediately felt a little guilty for speaking to her in such a mean way. "Kim, no…please don't cry…"

"Deal with it!" Kim snapped through her tears. She thought she heard footsteps behind her, but she signed that off to the pounding in her head as she cried. "I thought you really cared about me, Ron. But you don't care as much as Shego does."

"Kim, I'm sorry-"

"I don't want to hear 'Sorry'! I just want you to stand by me like you did in high school!" Kim was near-hysterical by now, and she couldn't control how fast she was spiraling into her grief. "I thought I could trust you!"

"Since when was this about trust?"

Suddenly, she realized something. The thumping sound she was hearing, while caused in part by her crying, was not merely that. They were also footsteps, approaching rapidly, and by the sound of it they had stopped right behind her. She was alone, kneeling on a sidewalk in the middle of December with no one to defend her but herself. She was a sitting duck.

A hand covered in some sort of cloth clamped over her mouth, cutting Kim's gasp of surprise short. She had seen enough horror movies to know what the purpose of the cloth was; she closed her mouth and held her breath, simultaneously wriggling around in the grip of the person behind her. While she would have normally been able to break free within seconds, this time she could barely move. A wave of terror washed over her, and she started blindly lashing out at her attacker with slipshod punches and kicks that wouldn't have done any real damage had they hit. Abandoning all traces of composure and strength, she screamed through the cloth and thrashed around even more. By tiring herself out, she effectively sealed her fate.

After almost thirty seconds, Kim's mouth opened of its own accord and desperately tried to suck in air. As soon as she inhaled the chemical-laced cloth, her vision went fuzzy. A tingling sensation started at the base of her neck and rapidly spread to the rest of her body until she couldn't move her own limbs. She opened her mouth to scream one last time, but her mouth would not obey her. With a final gasp of laced air, she allowed herself to slip into blackness.

Kim's cell phone clattered to the ground and remained there for long after her captor had taken her away. Ron's voice still came over the line, vibrating the tiny phone slightly.

"Kim? What's happening? Are you okay? Can you hear me? Oh my God, oh my God…Kim! Kim, what's going on?"

His voice continued to ring out through the still December air, seemingly taunting the heroine as an answer to her plea for help come too late.

Kim was long gone.

* * *

*sigh* Whenever Kim and Shego finally get together, there's always something that comes up between them. It's sad, but so fun to write! (I'm very messed up.)

On another note: oh no! Kim! Who took her? :) I shall never tell, though it's kinda easy to guess...the only person who would I think I've told knows who he is. Hey, Doc. :)


	10. The Plot Thickens

Hey everyone! Sorry it's been a long time since I last updated - what, maybe four months? I'm not sure...well, anyways, I am back from hiatus! This is a long chapter that took me a while to write, but it clears up a lot of stuff. However, it brings up yet another plot twist at the end. *grins evilly* You'll know when you read it. Next chapter will probably be when I wrap everything up.

I don't own Kim Possible.

* * *

Shego was riding her motorcycle. She wasn't exactly sure where she was riding it to, but she was riding. Even so, she wasn't focused on the road, meaning that she had probably run more than one stoplight. All she could think about was Kim and how she had kissed her. Kissed her! Part of her had been terrified by the contact, but the other part was just like, "To hell with it. It's Kim."

She had been thinking about Kim a lot lately - about how her bright red hair fell with perfect body down over her shoulders, about how closely her olive eyes matched with Shego's own, about her perfect figure. She knew Kim didn't see it that way, though. She saw herself the same way Shego saw herself - soiled, dirty, forever flawed and captured by E.

Motor Ed.

Shego shuddered involuntarily. Where was he now? Why couldn't anyone find him? Was Kim right about him planning to make another move? She couldn't bear all of these questions, but the worst one of all she knew would always be nagging at her.

_What if he hurt Kim again?_

Suddenly, her cell phone rang, startling Shego out of her thoughts. Only two people had the number, and they were Kim and Drakken. This was the ringtone she had set for unknown numbers. Eyes locked on the road, she reached into her pocket and answered the phone with a rough "Who is this and how the hell did you get this number?"

"Shego, it's Ron. Wade found your number and gave it to me."

Shego relaxed slightly, but only slightly. She knew the buffoon hated her. "Why?"

"I think something happened to Kim."

Shego's heart dropped to her stomach. "_What?_"

"I...I was on the phone with her, and all of a sudden she just sort of randomly gasped. She wasn't answering me, and then she started screaming. It sounded like something was covering her mouth. Then everything just went silent, but the line was still connected." Ron sounded frantic. "Shego, you gotta help me find her. I can't reach her at all now. You're her girlfriend, you have to help!"

Shego nearly swerved into the next lane. "How do you know about that?"

"I saw you kissing her." His voice lowered. "I kinda made her cry over it."

"You know what, it doesn't matter right now," Shego surprised herself by saying. "I'll probably kill you later for making Kimmie cry, but we need to make sure she's okay first. Get Nerdlinger to get a lock on her cell, and I'll meet you there."

"Already on it, Shego," a new voice said. "Couldn't help but listen in. Sorry." After a brief moment of silence, punctuated by the rhythmic tapping of Wade's fingers on his keyboard, he said, "Got it! The corner of Fields and Avery. Well, more on Fields, but you understand."

Shego accelerated, eyes still focused on the road. "I'm already close. Buffoon, I'll meet you there."

Ron began to protest, but Shego hung up on him before he could really get into it. He didn't matter right now. All that mattered was Kim.

* * *

Ron pulled up to the corner of Fields and Avery and immediately saw Shego's sleek green motorcycle standing abandoned beside the curb. This didn't bode well for him.

"Shego?" he called out hesitantly, half-afraid that she would jump out and kill him. "You here?"

He looked down Avery Lane, where Wade had said Kim should be. He didn't see Kim, though; he saw Shego kneeling on the frozen ground, her back to him.

"Shego?" he called again, louder, but she still didn't look up. He approached warily, hands half-raised in case she lunged or something. "Shego?"

He came up beside her, and only then did he see what she was looking at on the ground. There were two things: one was a cell phone, still open and turned on. The other was a Kimmunicator with a small note taped to the screen.

_You'll hear from us shortly._

Ron knelt down next to Shego numbly and tapped her shoulder. "Shego..."

Only then did Shego look up at him. Her green eyes were bright with pain and fear, and they were wet with tears. This shocked Ron; he had never seen Shego cry. Never.

"She's gone," she whispered. "He took her."

Ron didn't know what to do to comfort the villainess, especially when he was feeling the same loss and fear she was. Even though part of him still hated her, he knew that Kim loved her, and even if he didn't show it that was enough for him. Partly because he needed it and partly because she did, he reached over and draped a comforting arm around her shoulders. He felt her stiffen under his touch, but he wasn't sure if it was because he was a boy or just because he was Ron Stoppable, the buffoon, comforting her.

"We can find her," he said quietly. "We have to find her."

Shego blinked rapidly and stood up, looking at Ron. She muttered something under her breath.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Thank you, Ron," she repeated quietly, and this shocked Ron almost more than her tears.

"Um...you're welcome..." he said slowly, trying to wrap his mind around what had just happened.

Shego tucked a stray strand of ebon hair behind her right ear and turned away from him. "Call Nerdlinger. Ask him if there are any cameras in this area he can pull tapes from. We did it before, we can do it again."

Ron nodded and pulled out his own Kimmunicator - the Ronmunicator, Kim called it, but that just didn't have the same ring to it. Shego watched as his mouth began moving, but she didn't actually hear his words. All she heard was the erratic pounding of her heart as it fought to free itself from her chest. She looked up at the sky and, after a moment of questioning her sanity, prayed.

* * *

Kim was utterly terrified. There was no other term for it. She was so terrified she thought she was going to either throw up or pass out. She remembered talking to Ron, and then that person had come up behind her...then, all of a sudden, here she was, chained by her wrists to a rough brick wall in a dark room.

After she got over the initial panic, she was just barely able to focus enough to assess her surroundings. There was nothing and no one in the room besides her. The lack of bed made her feel a tiny bit better, but only a tiny bit. After all, she was still being held captive by Motor Ed - at least, that's who she assumed had captured her.

Kim rotated her wrists in the cuffs, trying to regain the feeling in them, but the action merely served to chafe the skin below her hands. Only then did she notice that, even though her feet were touching the ground, the only thing keeping her from collapsing were the chains themselves. She stood up fully and breathed a sigh of relief as the pain in her wrists lessened.

Then a sudden notion hit her, and she breathed, "Shego."

What if they had hurt her?

A fresh bout of tears began to spill from her eyelids. If her captor had done something to Shego, she didn't know how she could live with it. She felt like she was on the brink of passing out from the buildup of fear, both for Shego's safety and her own.

"Shego," she whispered, her voice trembling. Her knees involuntarily gave way and she half-sank slowly to the ground, her knees almost a foot above the floor. Her wrists were driven to cracking, but she didn't care.

Suddenly, she heard footsteps approaching the closed door of her room. Her head snapped up fearfully, breath hitching in her throat as the knob turned and the door swung in. She half expected Motor Ed to come barging in, wielding God knows what type of machine. However, that's not who came in first.

"Oh my God..." she whispered.

The burly man walked in slowly, almost mechanically, and stood in front of Kim. He could've been a statue to her had she not seen him come in. His vibrant blue eyes bored into hers, looking but not really seeing through the glaze that seemed to have fallen over them.

"Oh my God..." she repeated shakily, trembling all over. "You...you knew..."

Hego didn't move a muscle. He simply stood there, staring at the captive without the slightest trace of remorse on his face.

"Why?" she whispered. "Why did you lie? How could you do this?"

He still didn't offer up a reply, but someone else did.

"Oh, Kimberly, you haven't figured it out yet, have you?"

Kim's blood ran cold when she heard the voice, accompanied by heavier footsteps. Her heart skipped a beat, and for a few moments she forgot how to breathe.

"Hego here doesn't know what he's done. Look at him, sweetie. Can't you tell, being the smart girl that you are?"

"Don't call me sweetie," Kim threw back, though her voice sounded much more scared than what she would call 'borderline intimidating'. It didn't have the desired effect at all. Her heart rate seemed to speed up with every footstep that echoed throughout the room.

"I'll call you what I want," the man responded smoothly, walking slowly into the room. Even though Kim had known it was him approaching since he had spoken, she still felt a sharp pang of shock as she saw his face for the first time as he emerged from the shadows. Everything about him, albeit familiar, now scared her out of her mind - his well-formed muscles, his steely eyes, his gravelly voice, his untrimmed blond mullet. Even his altered way of speaking frightened her.

"It's been a while since we've met under these circumstances, hasn't it?" the mechanic mused silkily, approaching Kim and kneeling down beside her. He reached out a hand to touch her face, and she flinched away. He merely smiled bemusedly at this reaction, like he didn't give a damn how she acted around him.

"W-why am I here?" she asked, her voice still trembling. "Why is Hego here?"

Motor Ed laughed. "Hego? Hego is my pet, of sorts. He does whatever I tell him to with no choice in the matter. His will is mine to manipulate."

Kim looked up at Hego again. In the darkness of the room, she could just barely make out the faintest light she had ever seen, pulsing gently on his head but almost completely masked by the thin layer of skin and the thick mop of hair covering it.

"You're controlling him," she realized slowly. A wave of fresh disgust swept over her. "You sick bastard."

Motor Ed laughed again, just laughed, and that's when it hit Kim. She recalled Wade saying that he had found evidence of some sort of disease or disorder in Ed's medical history. Now, studying everything different about him, she realized that he wasn't sick at all - at least, not in the illness sense. He was completely and utterly raving mad, and she would bet money on that guess.

"What do you want with me?" she snarled. Her voice was steadier this time, but there was still an unmistakable tremor in it.

"It's not just you I want, Kimmie," he replied smoothly, and this time Kim's heart almost stopped for real.

"Shego," she whispered numbly.

"You see, Kim, I need both of you. I was given an assignment long ago by an unnamed party, along with a hefty check and the promise of another upon completion." Motor Ed sat down fully and leaned against the wall next to Kim. "I don't usually work for the side of the goody-two-shoes people like yourself, but the pay was far too good to pass up."

Kim hated actually having to converse with this monster, but despite her utter fear at having him so close to her she was intrigued. "And this party..."

"Shall remain unnamed, as I said. They wanted the two of you tested to see what you would become."

"For what reason?"

"To recruit you."

Kim's brow furrowed. Who could possibly want to recruit her and Shego?

Motor Ed continued, looking at the wall opposite him like there was a flat screen television on it showing the most interesting show in the world. "This party had been watching the two of you for a while before I took action. When they found me, they offered to recruit me under the table to test you two. So, I took it upon myself to push you to your respective limits. I studied you two for months, calculating the best possible method for my task."

Then it dawned on Kim. "You gave the soda to Hego to put in the cooler, didn't you? But...how did you know..."

"I studied you two for months," Motor Ed repeated, an evil grin spreading across his face. "I found out the convenience store that both of you frequented, your respective favorite brands of soda, and the place you tended to pick the bottles from. For you, you always take a soda bottle from the front right, while Miss Go tends to select the one dead in the center of the front row. It was actually quite simple. I'll admit that, in the end, it was bordering on a lucky chance, but it worked out just fine. I got my targets."

"You were stalking us?" Kim blinked, trying to wrap her mind around this. "And...and we didn't notice?"

Motor Ed continued as if she hadn't even spoken. "I chipped Hego here right after that, and he's worked for me ever since."

Kim tried to shift even farther away from the man. "You are a sick, masochistic monster."

"Why, thank you," Ed replied genially. "Not too long ago, the aforementioned party contacted me, asking for an ETA of when you two would be approved. I said in a few weeks, but I must admit I lied."

"Shocker," muttered Kim. "You, a terrible and abusive manipulator, _lied? _"

"I gradually lost interest in having you two recruited for the side of good," he went on. "Since Shego went bad and surpassed my own skill, and since you turned into a hero that constantly overcame me, I decided that this was no longer about the money. It was about finally coming out on top and getting my revenge."

"You have your revenge," Kim spat out. "You raped us. You have me cuffed to a goddamn wall with no possible way out. What more do you want?"

He grinned again. "To make you suffer."

"What the hell do you think we've been _doing? _"

"Not like that. You see, this is why I need Shego here. You are the bait to lure her here, since she is the harder of you two to capture myself. If your life is on the line, or if she thinks it is, she will do anything to get to you in time."

"And is my life on the line?" Kim asked quietly, though she already knew the answer.

Motor Ed seemed to know that she knew. "You tell me. Once I have her here, I will make her suffer through worse pain than she ever has before."

"Don't touch her," Kim snapped, and the tremor suddenly vanished from her voice. "Don't you dare lay a finger on her!"

"That wasn't my original plan," he explained smoothly. "Tell me, do you love her more than you love yourself?"

"Yes," Kim's mouth said before her brain had a chance to catch up.

"And does she reciprocate these feelings?"

"Yes..."

"So, it stands to reason that the most effective way to break her and make her suffer...is to make _you _suffer and have her watch. That is why I need the two of you together, in this spot."

Kim felt all the color drain from her face. He said he wasn't going to hurt Shego, instead inflicting all of the pain onto her own body. Then again, since when do villains keep their word? She didn't like either option.

"Why are you telling me this?" she managed after a moment.

Motor Ed stood up and stretched casually. "Because there's no possible way it could hurt me. I already have you, and very soon Shego will find her way here as well. There is no way you could send word out to her not to come. The only people who know of this are you and Hego. Hego is my slave, unable to be released by anyone except for the holder of the sole controller, and you...well, you aren't going anywhere."

Kim felt icy fear shoot through her body. "Oh my God...you're going to..."

"No, no, no," Motor Ed laughed. "Not right now, at least. You could get pregnant, and even I'm not low enough to kill a baby."

"You're going to kill me?" Kim whispered hoarsely.

"I haven't decided yet," he answered, and those four words were enough to convince Kim of the truth. No matter whether he knew it or not yet, he was going to kill her if she wasn't rescued in time.

Motor Ed took a few steps toward Hego. "Hego, send the message. You know what to say. They'll have kept her little communicator."

"Yes, sir," Hego responded in a monotone. He turned robotically and walked out of the room.

"My Kimmunicator," Kim realized. She glanced down, only to not see the telltale bulges of her Kimmunicator and cell phone in her pockets.

"Do you really think I would be so naïve so as not to instruct Hego to remove all of your means of communication?" Motor Ed chuckled and then approached Kim again. "Given that I'm not entirely sure when your dear Shego will arrive, perhaps it's best that I begin now."

"Begin w-" Kim started, but her words died in her throat as Motor Ed took something out out of his pocket. The extremely dim light coming in through the open doorway caused the small object to glint slightly.

"We can't have her arriving to see an unharmed Kimberly, can we now? That implies that I've gone soft - which, I can assure you, I have not." His grin spread from ear to ear. "So, my dear, shall I?"

* * *

"Nothing," Wade said sadly as soon as Ron accepted his call on the Ronmunicator. "Absolutely no cameras anywhere. Not even an ATM."

Ron bit his lip so hard he drew blood. "This is bad. This is really bad."

Wade squirmed a little in his seat. "You told Shego yet?"

"Shego found the Kimmunicator before him," the green woman herself snarked from offscreen, her eyes not once leaving her laptop screen. She was doing the same thing Wade had been doing, looking for any sort of recording device that had been active at the time of the kidnapping. She was holding in her tears now like she had been for the past few hours. Crying would only serve to slow her down, and she couldn't afford that now. She needed to get to Kim as fast as possible.

Shego glanced at the Kimmunicator laying on the desk next to her. She hadn't touched it once since putting it there upon her and Ron's arrival to his house, after making a quick detour for Shego to pick up her own laptop. The little Post-It note was still stuck to the screen, and every time she read the brief note written on it she felt like she was being mocked. If she lost Kim, she didn't know what she'd do. There was so much she hadn't gotten to tell her.

"I didn't even tell her my name," she whispered without realizing it.

Ron glanced up from the Ronmunicator. "What about your name?"

Shego was about to retort rudely, but for some reason decided against it. Instead she elaborated quietly, "I never told Kimmie my real name. She asked a lot, but I never told her."

"So you _do _have another name," Ron mused.

"Well, doy. Not even my parents were so brain-dead as to want to name their children Hego, Shego, Mego, and Wego."

"Care to share?"

"Not the time, Ron," Wade warned. "Shego, you don't have to answer."

"I know I don't have to." Shego was silent for a moment. "I really only wanted to tell Kimmie."

"Sorry," Ron mumbled.

"No, it's fine," Shego surprised everyone, herself included, by saying. "It's just...no one else knows except for my family. Not even Drakken."

Ron shrugged. "Your choice if you want to tell or not."

At that moment, a familiar little sound rang out.

_Beep beep be-beep..._

Ron, out of habit, glanced at the Ronmunicator in his hand before he realized that it was already on.

"It's Kim's," Shego said in a stiff voice, staring at the Kimmunicator. The screen had lit up with a little green KP against a blue background, and was buzzing slightly as it emitted the little ring again.

Wade immediately set to tapping on his keyboard quickly. "Okay, I'm ready. Shego, answer it, and I'll start a trace."

Shego nodded and picked up the device with a trembling hand, peeling the sticky note off with the other. With a glance at Ron, she accepted the call.

Then, suddenly, her face drained of the small amount of emerald color it had, and her eyes widened.

"_Hego?_" she managed.

Ron just about dropped his own Ronmunicator when he heard that name.

"What?" he hissed under his breath.

Shego's brother stared at her from the little screen blankly. "We have captured Kimberly. If you have any hope of seeing her alive again, Shego, you will come to us unarmed and in surrender."

"You traitor," spat Shego. "You filthy traitor. I _trusted _you!"

"We have captured Kimberly. If you have any hope of seeing her alive again, Shego, you will come to us unarmed and in surrender."

Shego blinked. "You just said that."

"Wait, Shego," Ron spoke up. "Listen to him. He doesn't sound normal."

"We have captured Kimberly. If you have any hope of seeing her alive again, Shego, you will come to us unarmed and in surrender."

Shego listened as her brother continued to repeat himself in the same dull, monotonous voice. Then it hit her. She had seen this before - no, she had lived it - when Drakken took control of both her and Kim's minds.

"Mind control," she said out loud.

Just then, Hego switched his words. "By now you should have completed your trace. Come to our location tonight, and we give our words that Kimberly will be here, alive."

Then, just like that, the transmission ended.

"Please tell me you got the trace," Shego said tensely, still staring at the now-dark screen.

Wade nodded, though only Ron could see. "Yeah, I got it, but...Shego, it's obviously a trap. Hego was being mind-controlled, and we're dealing with villains. We can't trust them." After a moment he added hurriedly, "No offense."

"None taken," she replied, standing up.

"Where are you going?" Ron asked sharply.

"I don't care if it's a trap," Shego answered. "If there's even the slightest chance that my Kimmie is with them, then I'm going."

"No, you're not," Wade objected.

"Don't you dare try and stop me, Nerdlinger, because if you do I will plasma-bolt you into oblivion."

Wade grumbled a little under his breath before replying, "I _meant,_ you're not going until I give you the address that the trace led me to."

"Oh," Shego said, a touch of sheepishness inching into her tone. "So why didn't you just say that then?"

Ron stood up and started toward the door. "So where are we going, Wade?"

Shego stuck out an arm and barred his way. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, there, Stoppable. Look, I appreciate your help and all, but there's no way I'm letting you come with. If Kimmie's lifelong best friend gets hurt, she'll flay me alive. And you know how hard it is for me to beat Kim when she's pissed off enough to do that."

"And if I let Kim's girlfriend gets herself killed walking straight into what we both know is a trap, then she'll flay _me _alive," Ron countered. "And you know how hard it is for me to beat Kim when she's in a good mood, forget being pissed off. I have to come." his voice softened a little. "She's like a sister to me, Shego. I love her. I don't want her to get hurt. And if she loves you...then I guess I have to love you too, because you might be my honorary sister-in-law someday."

Shego blinked once, then twice, staring at Ron like he had just found the cure for cancer. After a long moment she smiled softly and stepped closer to him.

"Thank you," she whispered, leaning down and planting a soft kiss on his cheek.

She drew away, leaving Ron standing there stunned, and a hard look crept into her eyes. "Now let's go kick Motor Ed's ass and save our Kimmie."

* * *

"Please...s...stop...please..._ah!"_

Motor Ed wiped the blade of his pocketknife off on his ratty jeans, leaving another smear of blood right next to the countless others.

"Now, Kimberly," he said softly, "it's better than the alternative, is it not?"

He reached down and placed the tip of the blade against the young woman's left cheek, pressing in and then flicking upwards sharply.

"_Ah!_" Kim gasped out again, feeling a fresh stream of blood begin to trickle down her face. Motor Ed had been doing this for the past half hour, taking a knife to her in places that wouldn't kill her, but definitely hurt her a hell of a lot. Most of her body was covered in blood from various wounds, the most serious of which being a two-inch slit over her stomach.

"Please..." she ground out again, hoping to whatever deity existed up there that she would get out of this alive.

Motor Ed pursed his lips, looking over what he had done. After a moment he nodded in satisfaction. "I don't want you dead just yet. I want you to be hurt enough to give Shego a heart attack when she arrives." He paused. "If she even has a heart."

"Shut up," Kim rasped weakly.

"Oh, that's right. You love her, and she loves you. She must have a heart, because everyone who spends time near the great Kim Possible automatically grows one." He laughed sarcastically. "You only think she loves you. How do you know?"

"I just do," Kim shot back, her voice hoarse. "She has more of a heart than you'll ever have."

Motor Ed squinted at her for a moment and then closed his pocketknife. Kim blinked in surprise and relief, but that faded when she heard his next words.

"I think you look hurt enough. For now."

She noticed that the fingers of his free hand had clenched into a fist, and he raised it slowly.

Then everything went black.

* * *

"How much farther, Wade?" Shego asked, yanking the wheel to the side to evade a likely-drunk SUV driver. She wasn't used to driving in a car this old. Since both she and Ron needed to get there at the same time, they had opted to borrow Ron's mother's car. "God, I miss my motorcycle."

"You're almost there," Wade said, his voice made tinny by the Kimmunicator's tiny speakers. "Turn onto Blackwood."

Shego slowed down briefly and made the turn. Then, as soon as there were no other cars around, she floored it again.

Ron gripped the handle above the passenger-side window tightly, his knuckles turning white. "Wade, you may need to ask my parents to arrange my funeral early."

"Shego can't drive?" the boy genius inquired.

"I can drive fine," Shego snapped. "In case you forgot, Kimmie's life is on the line, and I want to get to her now!"

"Sorry," Wade said quickly. "Take this next left turn."

Shego yanked the wheel hard, not bothering to slow down this time. There were no other cars around this part of town. This was the seedy part of Middleton, the part that only drug dealers and criminals used anymore. She had lived here herself a few times. Everything seemed deserted.

"Stop!" Wade suddenly said.

Shego slammed on the brakes and skidded to a stop in front of a run-down one story house.

"God, woman, you have a death wish or something?" gasped Ron, rubbing his neck. He felt like he had almost gotten whiplash.

Shego unbuckled her seat belt and opened the door, stepping outside. "Listen carefully, Stoppable, because I'm only gonna say this once. If I'm not out within ten minutes, or I haven't contacted you, then I want you to come in and find us. Be as quiet as you can. Motor Ed is waiting for me to come in and find Kim, so he'll be there with her when I get to her. Hego will probably be there, too. No one expects you to be here with me, so there's a good chance you can take out Motor Ed from behind without anyone noticing."

Ron gulped. "Take him out?"

Shego reached into her back pocket and pulled out a little rectangular device, tossing it to him. "This is a taser. Modified it myself a few months ago. Press the little green button and point the red end at Motor Ed. You've only got one shot, but if you hit him it'll knock him out for hours. Got it?"

Ron nodded, staring at the tiny device in his hands. "Shego...good luck."

"You too," Shego said quietly, and closed the door. She turned toward the dilapidated house and took a deep, steadying breath. "We'll both need it."

She broke into a silent run, ducking into the dark doorway as fast as she could. There was no telling if they were being watched outside, and she knew it. Even though Motor Ed and Hego were most likely inside the house, it was better than being out in the open.

The house was very dark. As far as Shego could tell, the only light in the entire building was being emitted from a small ceiling-mounted bulb in the main hallway. She was tempted to light up, but she didn't want to give away her position. It wasn't likely, but if she could get in and get Kim without being found she would be happier than ever.

Shego paused and listened carefully. She couldn't hear a single sound that sounded anything like Motor Ed or Hego, but there was one little noise, so faint that she could barely hear it...

Shego held her breath and stayed absolutely still, listening.

"Mmm..."

Shego released her breath all in one whispered word. "Kimmie..."

She darted lightly toward the sound. There was one door in the hallway that was standing ajar, and even though it gave Shego an ominous feeling she could hear the sound coming from that very room. She took a deep breath, steadying her nerves again, and crept in. Her sharp, comet-enhanced eyes could see in the dark better than most others, but even so she could barely discern the dark figure fettered to the wall across the room.

"Oh my God," Shego whispered, skidding across the room and falling to her knees. "Oh God, Kim..."

Now that she was closer, she could see Kim more clearly in the dim light from the hall. Her wrists were chained to the wall above her head, and she was hanging limply from the cuffs. Blood covered her body, still dripping from her wounds. Shego bit back a sob and touched Kim's face gently, ignoring the blood rubbing onto her hand. Kim moaned softly at the contact.

"Kim?" Shego leaned in close. "Kim, can you hear me?"

Kim stirred, half-raising her head. Another moan escaped from between her lips. "Sh... Shego?"

Shego leaned down slightly as Kim's eyes fluttered open and, after a moment, fixed on her blearily. A relieved smile split the emerald woman's face in two.

"Oh, thank God you're alive," she breathed.

Kim's eyes widened in fear. "Shego...you...you have to get out of here. It's a trap..."

"Ssh," Shego soothed. "I know. I'm just glad I found you in time." She looked down at Kim again and winced. "What did he do to you?"

"A knife," Kim mumbled. "I think he knocked me out...but I don't remember."

Shego felt a tear roll down her cheek, and she leaned in closer. "You'll be okay, Kim. I'll get you out of here."

Kim managed a smile, and she pressed her lips to Shego's cheek softly. "I love you, Shego."

Shego smiled back. "Selena."

"What?"

"Selena," she repeated. "My real name is Selena." She averted her gaze. "I was so scared that you wouldn't be alive for me to tell you that."

Kim blinked. Shego had entrusted her with her real name?

"Thank you," she whispered. "I love you, Selena."

"I love you too," she whispered back, and she leaned forward to kiss Kim. Their lips connected gently, yet lovingly. Shego ignored the taste of blood on her love's lips, instead merely reveling in the unique warmth that was Kim, the special sensation that only the two of them would ever have.

"I'll be honest, I expected you to be here sooner."

Shego broke away and whirled around, hands suddenly engulfed in burning hot plasma.

"You," she hissed.

Motor Ed strolled into the room and flipped a light switch that Shego hadn't even noticed. The room immediately filled with light, effectively blinding both Kim and Shego.

"So I'm here," Shego spat. "What do you want with me?"

"Shego, just try to get out," Kim said softly. "He's going to hurt you if you stay with me."

"And I will hurt your dear Kimberly if you leave," he added smoothly.

Shego stepped back so she was standing in front of Kim protectively, but she had a resigned look on her face. She had dealt with mentally unstable people before. In this particular case, a mentally ill Motor Ed was potentially more lethal than an evil, steroid-hopped Kim.

Motor Ed rubbed his hands together gleefully in a way that reminded the two others in the room of Dr. Drakken. "After all this time, I finally have it. Kim Possible is incapacitated, and Shego is willing to bow to my every whim to save her."

"We're right here," Kim said hoarsely, sounding somewhat annoyed.

Motor Ed didn't seem to hear her. He had gone off on a little tangent, muttering to himself. At one point he took a little black remote out from his pocket and pressed a button on it. After about a minute, Hego walked stiffly into the room and stood directly in front of Shego and Kim.

"Hego," the woman whispered, looking into her brother's eyes. The absence of emotion she saw there scared her. Now, she wasn't especially fond of her brothers, but that didn't mean she wanted any of them to be sapped of their own free will.

Motor Ed cut off his hushed ranting abruptly when he saw that Hego had arrived. "Ah, Hego. Good. Grab your sister, will you?"

Hego obediently took hold of his sister's slender waist with one glowing hand and lifted her, struggling, into the air.

"Now unlock Miss Possible's chains."

Hego reached into his ankle pouch and removed a small silver key. He inserted it into Kim's cuffs and unlocked them. The redhead, unable to support herself, collapsed limply to the floor when the cuffs opened. A small cry of pain escaped her mouth, and Shego struggled with renewed vigor.

"Lock Miss Selena Go into the cuffs."

Hego pushed Kim aside with his foot unceremoniously and shifted his grip on Shego, preparing to lock her up. The green woman lit up again, the heat of her plasma having been intensified by her anger. She couldn't break free from her brother's super strong grip, but every time he tried to put her in the cuffs she would burn him and cause him to step back sharply. It was almost like training a dog.

"Hego!" Motor Ed said sharply, getting a scary glint in his eye. "Quit playing around, man! Seriously!"

Shego blinked. She had figured out that he was crazy by now, but this reversion was a bit unexpected. Honestly, she didn't know which version of him was more frightening.

Suddenly, an odd crackling sound filled the room, accompanied by the sound of burning flesh. Motor Ed's face twisted into one of pain as he collapsed, limbs jerking around uncontrollably like gelatin in an earthquake. Shego didn't need to look to see what the cause of this was - not that she could, at any rate, because she was somewhat occupied.

"Ron!" she barked. "Get his remote!"

The blond boy blinked and looked down at Motor Ed. "What remote?"

"The one in his hand, dammit!"

Ron approached the man cautiously and plucked the remote out of his twitching hand. "Okay, what do I press?"

"Anything!" Shego snapped. "Just make him stop this!"

Ron looked at the tiny remote in his hand. There were two buttons - one green and one red.

"Not very good experiences with red buttons," he muttered, and pressed the green one.

Immediately, Hego dropped Shego and stood as stiff as a board.

"Ow..." grouched Shego, rubbing her head. "What did you do?"

"Exactly what you told me to do!" Ron shot back. "Why is he just standing there like that?"

"I don't know," the woman answered. "He was doing that earlier when Kimmie was chained..." Suddenly, her eyes widened, and she twisted around on the ground. "Kim!"

"KP!" Ron cried, just now noticing the small figure lying in a heap on the ground behind Shego.

Shego scooted across the floor so she was next to Kim. Gently, she reached out and rolled the young woman onto her back. Then she picked the redhead up in her arms and cradled her in her lap.

"Kim," she said softly. "Kim, you awake?"

"Yes," came the quiet reply, but her eyes didn't open.

"Oh my God, KP," Ron said worriedly, coming over and kneeling beside the two women. "Are you okay?"

Kim's lips curved upward in a small smile. "Ron, does it look like I'm okay?"

Shego laughed and hugged the girl close to her chest. "Never, and I mean never, scare me like this again, all right? I thought I had lost you for good."

"Thank you so much for coming for me." Kim opened her eyes, but almost immediately closed them again. "Stupid light."

Ron grinned. "Sorry. Guess that was a stupid question."

"Yep," she replied, wincing as she sat up a little in Shego's arms.

"Whoa there, Princess," Shego said quickly, preventing her from sitting fully upright. "You need to relax before you start losing more blood than you can replace."

Kim scowled a little, but settled for leaning against Shego's chest instead of lying back down fully. Her green eyes fixed on Hego, still standing motionless a few feet away. "Ron, you have the remote, right?"

"Yep," he replied. "Dunno how to work it, though."

"I do," she said. "I was watching Motor Ed do it. Press the green button and then give him a command. I don't know about the red one, though."

Ron pressed the green button and thought for a few seconds. "Hego, do ten jumping jacks."

The superhero obediently began jumping up and down in a poor excuse for jumping jacks. Shego stifled a laugh at the sight of her brother making himself look so incredibly stupid.

"Ron," Kim said in a warning tone. "How about you give me the remote?"

Sheepishly, Ron handed the little device to Kim. She thought for a moment and then pressed the green button. "Hego, tell me what the red button does."

"The red button deactivates the mind control chip," Hego answered dully. "It also automatically erases any of my memories acquired while it was activated, and does not retrieve them until it is activated again."

"So you remember everything Motor Ed has said or done around you?"

Hego nodded once.

"Hego," Kim said after a minute or so, "do you know who the unnamed party was that Motor Ed mentioned earlier?"

He nodded again.

Shego raised an eyebrow. "Um..._quoi?_"

Kim sighed lightly and briefly recapped what he had said earlier.

"Oh." Ron looked back at Hego briefly. "So he knows, then."

Shego and Kim exchanged glances. Both of them wanted to ask, but neither of them were sure that they wanted to know the answer.

"Go ahead," Kim said softly.

Shego swallowed and took Kim's hand in her own, pressing the green button. "Hego, who is this 'party'?"

Hego opened his mouth, unaware of just how big an effect what he would say next would have on the lives of the two women in the room.

"Global Justice."

That was the last thing either Kim or Shego remembered hearing before everything went black for them.

* * *

Plot twist! It's probably not exactly what you guys are thinking, but I'm just gonna make you all wait until next chapter to find out how everything started.

_Merci_ for reading!


	11. Physical Confrontations

So, here it is: Chapter 11, the final chapter of "That Was You"! I'm pretty happy that I was able to see this through to the end, despite my little hiatus from December to March. Thanks so much to everyone who's kept up with this story, especially because I'm not exactly well-known on FF. I wouldn't have kept going if people weren't reviewing and helping me with this!

Dr. Rex Greylin: You've helped me out with this story since Chapter 3 and have been a major inspiration. So thanks, and I will continue to formulate our plans for world domination.

EmmseySquire51011: (wow, I had to look up your screen name because I forgot what it was...XD) Thanks for putting up with my FF obsession! You're an awesome friend and YOU NEED TO START POSTING YOUR POEMS 'CAUSE I KNOW YOU WRITE THEM! RIGHT NOW YOUR ACCOUNT IS AN EMPTY, DESOLATE PLATEAU!

Honulicious, M-dog14NCISgeek, & Jay aka Jordan: Thank you guys for constantly reviewing! It feels good to know that you are all following the story so closely!

Everyone else who's bothered to read this far: Just...thanks! Merci! Gracias! (etc...etc...etc...)

I don't own Kim Possible.

* * *

Given the stress and the pain that she was in, it wasn't really that surprising that Kim had fainted at Hego's mention of GJ. What had really surprised Ron was that it seemed to hit Shego just as hard. He had never, not in all his years of watching Kim fight her, seen the emerald villainess lose consciousness simply from hearing words.

He had managed to rouse both of them after about ten minutes or so. Then, with the help of Hego (after pressing the red button, of course, at Kim's insistence) the still-unconscious Motor Ed was loaded into the back seat of the Stoppable family car to be taken to the state prison. Ron drove, Hego crammed into the back seat beside Ed's bulky form, and Shego sat in the passenger seat, still cradling a bleeding Kim in her arms. Ron, on his way to the prison, had dropped Kim and Shego off at the Possible family residence.

"So what now?" Shego asked softly, kneeling down in front of the young redhead sitting on the couch.

Kim shook her head. "I'm not sure. I just don't really know where to turn at this point."

Shego opened the first aid box she had found on top of the fridge in the kitchen and removed a large roll of gauze and a handful of antiseptic wipes. At the sight of the wipes, Kim bit her lip and glanced away.

"You okay, Princess?" Shego inquired, noticing the movement.

Kim shook her head. "This is gonna hurt like hell, isn't it?"

Shego nodded sympathetically. "You want me to get a towel or something for you to bite down on?"

The redhead shook her head again. "No, I think I'll be fine. I just don't want to wake Mom or Dad. Or the Tweebs. It would be kinda bad if they walked down and saw you here."

"They still think I'm the Big Bad Shego?"

"You are." Kim smiled. "But you're my Big Bad Shego."

Shego smiled gently and tore open one of the antiseptic wipe packets. "You ready?"

Kim nodded slowly, and Shego pressed the wipe to the nick on her left cheek. Her lips pressed together in a taut little line, but to her credit she didn't cry out. The pain was evident in her eyes, though, and it nearly broke Shego's heart just to know that she was the one causing it.

"I know it hurts," she whispered, planting a soft kiss on Kim's uninjured cheek. "I'm sorry, Princess."

"It's okay," Kim replied quietly. She sucked in a sharp breath when Shego moved down to her torso and then stopped, her bright green eyes looking back up hesitantly at her own olive ones.

"The knife tore through some of your clothes," she pointed out. "I can't get to them enough with the medicine. Would you...I mean, can you please..."

Kim saw the dark green blush spreading over the woman's face as she averted her gaze nervously, and she immediately understood. She wasn't quite comfortable with it, though - not after Motor Ed. Not this soon. Even so, she knew that Shego just wanted to help.

Shego heard the rustle of fabric, and her gaze was drawn back to Kim to see the redhead pulling her shirt up over her head. She winced visibly every time the cloth dragged over her wounds, but she managed to get the garment off without much trouble. She dropped it on the floor next to Shego and stared at her knees, fighting the urge to wrap her arms around her chest.

Shego moved up to sit on the couch next to her and cupped her chin gently, lifting her head back up. The hero stared into the criminal's bright emerald eyes, trying to read what she saw there. She could see the pure trust and love dancing around in there, and she visibly relaxed. She trusted Shego, plain and simple. Shego wanted to do her no harm. Shego wanted her safe.

The green woman shifted closer to Kim and brought a fresh wipe up to her near-bare torso. Kim stiffened momentarily as her hand neared, but when Shego drew back she shook her head.

"No," she whispered. "It's okay."

Shego pursed her lips hesitantly, but she obediently began to dab at Kim's wounds. That's a word Kim never thought she would associate with Shego - obedient. Love did things to a person. Weird things.

"Is it bad to want him dead?" she ventured after a moment. "To want to kill him myself?"

Shego faltered for a moment before resuming her cleaning, moving down to Kim's stomach. "It's certainly not something I'd expect to hear from you."

"I feel like I do. I mean, I know it's wrong and ferociously unethical, but I just...want to. I want to make him feel like we did." She paused. "He lied, you know."

"And you're surprised?"

"Of course not. It's just...before it...it happened, he told me that his selection was random. That we weren't special."

Shego snorted. "Don't go telling me that you care about how special he thinks you are."

"I don't, but...he lied. He meant to choose us all along."

"Why does that bother you?" Shego accidentally pressed down too hard on one of Kim's cuts, and the girl winced. "Sorry. Motor Ed is smart, though he might not seem like it all the time. If we knew it wasn't random, we would have done some digging. We would have probably found something he wouldn't have wanted us to find."

Kim dipped her head in an allowing nod. "I guess so. I don't know why it's been bothering me so much."

"I think I do. You've been living with his words for three years now, believing them with every fiber in your body. And now, to find out that there's been an ulterior motive all this time, that people have been watching you since long before the incident..." Shego trailed off. "I can understand."

"I guess so," Kim repeated. "It sort of makes me want to hurt him even more. I don't know. Maybe I'm just crazy."

Shego finished wiping down Kim's wounds and dropped the bloody wipe on top of the discarded shirt, picking up the roll of gauze bandages. "I know. I do, too. It's just...I don't want you to go off saying you want to kill him. People might take that the wrong way."

"I don't care at this point. I want to fight him." Her gaze dropped again. "I'm tired of being all scared and weak around him."

Still clutching the roll of gauze bandages in one hand, Shego cupped Kim's chin again and made the redhead look at her. "Kim, honey, I want you to listen to me. You are not weak. You are the strongest person I have ever known, and nothing, not even Motor Ed, can change that. As for being scared, everyone gets scared at least once in a while. Don't let it convince you that you're weak."

Kim blinked. She hadn't ever heard Shego speak to her like this, and it moved her deeply. She couldn't put what she wanted to express into the right words. Eventually, all she managed to say was, "I love you, Shego. Selena."

Shego smiled warmly and pressed a chaste kiss to Kim's lips before busying herself once again with bandaging her wounds. "Love you, too."

Kim sat there in silence for a moment, watching as Shego wound the bandages around her torso. She felt the nick on her cheek begin to trickle blood again, but she disregarded it. It didn't feel like much, anyways.

"So why don't you like your name?" she asked eventually.

Shego faltered again. She had known this was coming, though she hadn't expected it to come right now. "What makes you think I don't like it?"

"Well, you've never told anybody what it is, except for me. If you liked your name, you'd be flaunting it around like the great Shego does with everything she has and likes."

Shego had to smile at that. "Touché." She was silent for a moment, focusing on the task at hand. "The name is just so...not me, I guess. Whenever anyone thinks of the name Selena, they think of pop culture actresses and bubbly music. I'm not that kind of person. I'm an evil villainess. It just doesn't fit."

Kim shrugged, wincing as her wounds throbbed. "Well, I think it's a beautiful name, and to hell with everyone who thinks you're one of those pop-obsessive people. You're not _that_ Selena. You're Selena Go, my Selena Go." She grinned. "I would like to hear you sing someday, though."

Shego scowled, though her eyes were sparkling. "If you weren't cut all over, I would punch you."

"If you weren't bandaging me, I would punch back."

"Lift up your arms, Miss Violence."

Kim stifled a small giggle and raised her arms, allowing Shego freer access to her torso. The villainess continued to wrap the bandages around and around her body, stopping just below her bra. She tore the bandage with a deft twist and tucked the end into the previous layers, leaning down and retrieving a roll of medical tape for good measure. She tore a piece off and gently patted it down over the tucked-in end of the bandages.

"Selena?"

Shego looked back up into Kim's eyes, her hand still pressing down on the tape. She was still unaccustomed to hearing that name from anyone. "Yeah?"

"What you said before...about being evil..." Kim glanced down, just then noticing exactly how close Shego's hand was to her breasts, and she blushed. "Well, I don't believe it."

Shego's lips tightened. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing bad!" Kim said hurriedly, seeing the fire begin to grow in Shego's eyes. "I didn't mean it like that."

Shego seemed to relax slightly. "Good, because I want to get this straight. I am evil, plain and simple. I will always be evil."

Kim shook her head. "That's not true. Sure, maybe Shego was evil,and maybe you still have a lot of Shego in you, but first and foremost you are Selena. My Selena." Her voice softened. "You're not as evil as you think. You're not cruel. You're not an awful person. Because anyone who can love and care as much as you do..." Her hand drifted down and grasped Shego's, moving it from her torso to just in front of her lips. "...well, they have to have a good heart underneath all of that dark cover. They can't be that bad."

Shego was momentarily speechless. Slowly, she set down the roll of medical tape in the first aid box, her impassive gaze never once breaking from Kim's.

"Sel...Shego..." Kim said slowly, squirming slightly. She wasn't sure if the stare that Shego was giving her was a loving stare or an I'm-gonna-murder-you-for-saying-I'm-good stare. She almost didn't want to risk calling her Selena again in case it was the latter.

"Call me whichever," the green woman murmured as if reading her mind. "You're right. They're both me."

She leaned forward and slid her arms around Kim gently, pulling the young redhead into a tender embrace. Kim buried her face in Shego's neck as her own arms threaded around the villainess, her hands weaving themselves into her sleek black locks.

"Don't leave," Kim said softly, her voice muffled. "Not now."

"I wasn't planning to."

"I believe you missed the cut on her cheek."

Kim and Shego broke apart quickly when they heard this new voice. Their eyes scanned the dark room until they found a dark shape leaning up against the doorway.

"Mom," Kim breathed.

The figure reached forward and flicked on the light switch, fully revealing herself. She was clad in a lavender robe and fluffy white slippers. Her hair was mussed up slightly, like she had been sleeping for a while but not the whole night.

"Mom, what are you doing down here?" Kim asked nervously.

"I live here, hon." Ann Possible walked over to the couch and sat down on the other side of Kim, reaching down into the first aid kit. "Would've thought you'd known that by now. Hello, Shego."

Shego had to suppress a confused grin, instead replying jovially, "'Sup, Mrs. Dr. P."

Kim blinked, swallowing anxiously. "Wait...you're not...surprised or anything? You're not scared of Shego?"

Ann met her daughter's eyes sincerely. "You certainly aren't."

Shego studied the elder Possible's face for a moment. Then, unexpectedly, she grinned. "How long have you known?"

Kim's head snapped around to look at Shego faster than she thought possible. "What?"

Ann shifted her gaze to Shego, not at all surprised that she had asked the question. "Since that night you fell asleep on your motorcycle and Kim brought you inside."

Kim paled involuntarily. "You...were watching us?"

Ann nodded. "For a while."

Kim averted her gaze, staring at her knees nervously. She didn't want to be scolded now of all times.

Ann continued to rummage around in the kit, eventually withdrawing a single Band-Aid. "So what happened?"

"You don't sound too worried for a mother who just found out that her daughter was injured," Shego observed.

Ann shrugged. "I don't know. It seemed like she was in pretty good hands to me."

Kim nodded, still not looking at her mother. "Yeah. Yeah, I am."

Shego felt a warm feeling spread throughout her, and she allowed her lips to spread into a soft smile again.

Peeling the plastic away from the adhesive of the Band-Aid, Ann pressed it to the nick on Kim's cheek. "So tell me what happened. And from the beginning, please. I'll be the first to admit how confused I was when you brought Shego in that night."

Kim and Shego exchanged nervous glances. Ann didn't know anything past what E had done to her daughter that night. She didn't know that Shego had been the other girl - she didn't even know that there _was_ another girl.

Shego was the one to break the short silence that ensued. In an uncharacteristically small and slightly hesitant voice, she began to tell Ann all of the events that had transpired since that first day, the day Kim had been pushed into the snow. Kim watched her mother's face carefully as Shego spoke. She hid her emotions well for the sake of the two younger women in front of her, but her daughter could see the roiling rage and astonishment hiding deep in her eyes. At certain points Shego faltered in her story, but Kim squeezed her hand gently each time and kept her going.

When the green woman finished, Ann leaned forward slightly and wrapped her arms around the two of them, pulling them both into a very motherly hug.

"I'm here," she said softly. No pity. No gushing tears. No panic. Just a gentle assurance that the other two would never be alone.

Shego blinked away an involuntary tear and mentally forbade any others from making an appearance. "Mrs. Dr. P.?"

"Yes, Shego?"

The villainess swallowed. "If I had to switch out my mother with anyone else...I'd want it to be you."

Kim glanced back at Shego, somewhat surprised that she had made such an admission to someone she had barely spoken to before. She half-expected for her mother to make a face of disgust or confusion, but Ann merely took it in stride.

"Well, Shego, you are welcome in this family," she replied gently.

Kim blinked. "Mom, you're...okay with this? Okay with us?"

Ann shrugged, but her lips were curved in a warm smile. "I'll admit that it's not my first idea of Kim's ideal lover, given Shego's criminal past-"

"And present," Shego put it.

"And present," Ann allowed, giving Shego a stern look. "But I expect it to stop soon. Even so, I've seen the way you two interact. I trust you with my Kimmie-cub."

"Mom," Kim whined, pulling out of her hug. "Really? Nicknames in front of her?"

"I've heard worse," Shego teased, tipping Kim's nose lightly with her finger. "Bubblebutt."

Kim blushed a dark shade of red. "How did you remember that?"

Shego merely grinned and shook her head, reclining back on the couch and letting out a small sigh of contentment.

"I assume you want to keep this on the down-low from your father and brothers," Ann said after a moment of silence.

"Please and thank you," Kim affirmed quickly. "And anyone else who happens to ask. Not that I'm expecting anyone to, but just in case." She glanced at Shego, worried that the woman would be offended that Kim wanted to hide their relationship from the public, but the villainess was also nodding her assent.

Ann twisted around slightly on the couch so she could lean back comfortably next to her daughter. "So...about this Global Justice thing."

All traces of lightheartedness immediately evaporated.

"Yeah..." Shego said slowly, prompting her to continue.

"Well, what are you planning to do?"

Kim glanced away from her mother, resting her head on Shego's shoulder. "I don't know. I don't think there's much we can do."

This elicited a slight shake of the head from Ann. "You know I won't tolerate that kind of talk in this house. Anything is possible for a Possible."

"So what can we do, then?" Kim shot back. "Just throw out a few suggestions here. Anything helps at this point."

Ann was silent for a moment. Then she said slowly, "I'm not suggesting you do this or anything, being that I'm your mother and I'm not supposed to encourage confrontations like this, but when I was young and rebellious I always found that direct arguments helped out with my anger. If I were still like that, which I'm not, I would go and talk to Dr. Director - loudly and firmly."

There was a brief moment of silence as Kim worked through her mother's words in her brain. There was something in her tone that suggested an underlying message, one that Ann didn't feel comfortable saying directly.

"_We're_ still like that, though," she said after a moment.

The elder redhead winked in a secretive way that reminded both Kim and Shego of each other. "If you say so."

Kim furrowed her brow, thinking for about four more seconds. Then, out of nowhere, she wrapped her arms around Ann tightly. "You're an amazing mom, you know that?"

Ann smiled, resting her chin on her daughter's head. Her bright sapphire eyes found Shego's, glinting with the reflected ceiling light, and they exchanged a look. They both loved Kim, and they both understood most of what she was all about, but sometimes even her train of thought confused them.

"You really are," Shego mouthed.

It was an odd feeling for Ann, having been moved by something spoken by a villainess of all people. Nevertheless, she replied wholeheartedly, "Welcome to the Possible family, Shego."

* * *

It had been relatively slow lately for Global Justice, and Betty Director wasn't exactly partial to the feeling of having nothing to do. GJ's main source of missions, both recon and capture, involved Drakken and Shego. Now that Shego had seemingly dropped off the criminal grid, Drakken's schemes had ground to a halt.

_I miss being a field agent,_ she thought ruefully. _I've been on week-long stakeouts more exciting than this entire month has been._

The truth was, Betty almost wished that Shego would commit some sort of major heist - anything to alleviate the utter boredom that ran rampant through all of GJHQ. Drakken could barely stand on his own two feet without Shego there to help him, and with her missing...well, maybe it was better after all that Drakken wasn't attempting anything without her.

Betty reclined in her chair and closed her eyes, interlacing her fingers behind her head. She felt like she would drop off to sleep at any moment.

"I really need to get a bed in here," she muttered to herself. "Something soft, with pillows. Pillows would be nice. Oh my God, I'm talking to myself. I'm losing it."

Out of nowhere, her office door slammed open with such force that she could hear the wall next to it crack as the inside handle was forced into it. The director's eyes snapped open and she bolted out of her chair faster than she would have if a bomb had started counting down. Two figures stood in the doorway, barely more than silhouettes in the dim light of the office. One of them was about half a foot shorter than the other with familiar blazing orange hair, and Betty visibly relaxed. "Ah, Miss Possible. Why the dramatic entrance?"

Kim didn't reply, an oddity in itself. This immediately sent up a red flag in Betty's mind. The young hero always responded to her superiors. It was a sense of respect, something that went along perfectly with her morals.

"Miss Possible?" she tried again. "Is something wrong?"

"There sure as hell is something wrong," the taller person spoke up.

Betty blinked. She knew that voice. She had heard it in enough prison interrogation tapes to recognize it anywhere.

"Shego," she said flatly. "Miss Possible, why have you brought her to me?"

"Actually, Princess didn't 'bring' me anywhere," Shego drawled, reaching over and flicking the switch for the overhead light. The room was suddenly flooded with bright white light, causing Betty's hand to fly up above her eyes like a visor. "I came here _with _her, and she came here _with_ me. Don't make it sound like I'm an object."

"I'm not here to obey the wishes of criminals," Betty said sharply.

"But you're here for the side of justice," Kim retorted quietly. "Which means you're here for both of us, for our rights. Or maybe you aren't."

Her olive eyes, Betty noticed, were full of emotions that battled with each other. Hate, fear, compassion, disgust, betrayal, love...what on earth was she thinking about?

"What do you mean?" she asked slowly, as if testing out her every word and gauging the redhead's reactions.

Shego folded her arms and shifted her weight to her left leg. "Think back, Betty. Think back three years ago, maybe a few months more."

With her good eye, the director of GJ squinted at the villainess. "What are you talking about?"

"We were told," Kim began slowly, "that Global Justice paid someone to test us and see if we were worthy of recruitment."

Realization dawned on Betty's face. "That? That was years ago...but I don't recall having paid anyone."

"How can you talk about it so casually?" Shego asked incredulously, an expression of disgust spreading across her features. "Do you even know what he did?"

The one-eyed woman held up her hands. "Slow down a little bit. I said I recall the fact itself. I didn't say I recall anything else about it. I didn't even do the hiring."

"Then who did?" came the sharp replies, spoken in unison by the other two in the room.

Betty shook her head firmly. "First tell me what's going on here. Then I'll tell you who I put in charge of it."

Shego scowled, flexing her hands so they both burst into green flame. Kim could feel the heat through her own clothes, and she had to suppress her urge to step away from the cause of the sensation. Instead she looked back up at Betty, into her single eye. Her emotions were masked and hidden away, even more so than the old Shego's emotions, but the redhead noticed the little quirk of her eyebrow, the pursing of her thin lips, the way her head was tilted ever so slightly to the side.

_She really is confused,_ Kim realized suddenly. Aloud she murmured, "Maybe it's not such a bad idea to explain things to her."

The green plasma dissipated, but Shego's hard gaze didn't leave the Cyclopian woman before her. "Why?"

"Because she really doesn't know what's going on," the younger of the two replied.

Shego raised a slender black eyebrow skeptically, but she had been around Kim long enough to know how good her judgment was. She was good at reading people too, but no matter how hard she looked at Betty she couldn't seem to convince herself that Kim was right.

"Fine," she said eventually, though the look on her face told Kim that she was none too happy about giving in. "You got a drink around here and a place to sit down? This might take a little while."

Gesturing stiffly to a cream white couch against the adjacent wall, Betty replied, "There. As for the drink, tough."

Shego wrinkled her brow grouchily, but she took Kim's hand and led her over to said couch. Betty noticed that their hands remained linked for a few seconds after they both sat down. Just a few. For them, though, it might as well have been hours. As far as Betty knew, they never voluntarily touched each other outside of their fights. Never. It was like taboo for them.

Or so she thought.

Surprisingly, Kim began to speak first. Betty had fully expected to hear Shego spill before the redhead, being that the villainess was extremely confrontational and, well, _Shego_. Yet another item for the "Getting Extremely Odd" list.

"Turns out I had known Shego before she became a villain," were the first words to leave her mouth.

Well, Betty certainly didn't expect _that_.

"Barely," Shego corrected, her voice low.

"Yeah," Kim amended, her own tones lowering almost unconsciously. "I didn't really know her. I didn't even talk to her. I just...I don't know."

The eldest of the three squinted at her quizzically. Just from their voices, she could tell that there was something there, something major that she didn't know about. She was about to open her mouth and demand to know, but she swallowed the urge just in time and decided to give them the benefit of the doubt. Maybe they were getting to that.

"It was three years ago," Kim said after a brief pause to steady herself. "I had just bought a soda on my way back from the library, and I was drinking it. Inhaling it."

Betty half-expected Shego to make a sarcastic quip, but it was not forthcoming. The emerald woman simply sat there, hands clasped tightly in her lap, her eyes locked on Kim.

"There was a sedative in it," the redhead continued softly. "I don't really know how I didn't notice it either. There wasn't a hole in the lid, and I can't remember if the seal was broken. It might have been...I just don't know how I didn't notice it if it was. I didn't think it was..."

"Princess." Shego's voice was gentle and firm at the same time. "Don't beat yourself up. I didn't notice either."

_Either?_ Betty was tempted to ask Shego to repeat herself just to make sure that she had heard correctly. _What the hell does she mean by that?_

The woman was jerked from her thoughts by the sound of Kim's hesitant voice. "I woke up in a room somewhere, but I didn't know where. I still don't. I was tied up...to a bed..." The girl swallowed and tilted her head in her companion's direction. "She was tied to another bed next to me."

Betty was beginning to see where this was headed, and she didn't like it. Even though Kim had only begun to tell the story, it was already making her feel like she was intruding on forbidden territory.

"Motor Ed came in," Kim murmured, an unmistakable tremor in her tone. "Ed Lipsky. We didn't know he was Motor Ed then, though. He put a bag over her head so she couldn't see me, but he...he made me watch...and then he put it over my head and made her watch..." Her voice was breaking, tears beginning to flow down her face. "It just hurt...so bad...and it was so scary..."

Shego draped an arm over the redhead's shoulders and pulled her close, the whole time staring blankly at her knees. Betty saw a single tear slip down the criminal's cheek even though she was visibly trying to suppress them. She suddenly realized that she was feeling something for the two of them, especially Shego, that she never would have thought possible to feel for these two powerful women: pity.

"I left as soon as I could," Shego picked up, her voice surprisingly steady. Kim was clearly in no state to continue; she had buried her face in Shego's long ebon hair, but her near-hysteric crying was still clearly audible. "I went to Go Tower. My brothers found me crying in my room, but I wouldn't let them take me to the hospital." She took a slow, deep breath. "I turned evil after that. I didn't have to feel, being evil. I didn't have to show compassion, and I couldn't show weakness. It wasn't an option. It was almost nice, being able to show everyone that I wasn't weak. I could hold my own."

Betty had to force herself to look at Kim so her eyes couldn't betray the sympathy she was feeling toward the villainess. _You've been living with this all these years, _she asked silently, glad her words were for herself only, _and you haven't driven yourself crazy?_

"I ran into Kimmie just a little while ago. Someone had pushed her into the snow, and she was freezing her ass off. She passed out from the cold, and I brought her home. When she woke up in her bed, not knowing where she was, she got scared...really scared. Panicked, even. That's when I realized what had happened, and I ended up telling her. That's when we found out we were both marked."

"Marked?" Betty cut in before she could slap a hand over her mouth.

Shego lifted up the hem of her shirt in reply. Betty had to lean over her desk and squint to see it, but in the end she was able to make out a faint E etched into her skin.

"Things just sort of evolved from there," she said softly.

"He made it like so we're his property," came Kim's muffled voice, her shoulders still hitching with sobs.

At this Shego lost all interest in Betty. She made Kim lift her head and look straight into her eyes. "No, Kim. Don't talk like that. We aren't anyone's property, least of all his. He doesn't own us."

"No," Kim whispered, and Betty got the feeling that the young hero had forgotten all about her presence. "There's something I didn't tell you. Something that...that makes me his."

Shego leaned down so the redhead's lips were an inch from her ear. "You can tell me, Kim. What is it?"

Kim hesitated before whispering something into the older woman's ear, something that was too quiet for Betty to understand. She could only watch as a look of shock came over Shego's face as she drew back to look Kim in the eye.

"Oh, Kimmie," she whispered. "You never...not anyone?"

Kim shook her head, a fresh bout of tears coming on. Shego leaned forward, this time wrapping both of her arms around the trembling girl and pulling her close to her chest.

"Sshh," she murmured, stroking Kim's fiery hair in an attempt to calm her. "It's okay, baby, I'm here. I'm here. I'm so sorry..."

Betty leaned back in her chair, trying to make sense of what was happening in front of her. What had Kim said to Shego just then? What was she missing?

Then something else hit her.

_Baby?_

The one-eyed woman closed her eyes and massaged her forehead. _Kim...and Shego... together? _It was all just too much to take in. Nothing seemed to make sense.

"Du," she said finally, causing both women to look up at her in confusion.

"Wh...what?" Kim managed, wiping her eyes with the heel of her hand.

"Du," Betty repeated. "Will Du. I put him in charge of the request because I was busy overseeing a different mission. I had no idea what he did with his authority. If I had known who he asked..." She paused. "It _was_ Motor Ed who was asked, right?"

Both Kim and Shego nodded.

"I'll have him sent up here right away so I can confront him."

"No, Dr. Director," Kim said quickly. Her voice was gradually growing steadier. "Let us do it. Please."

Betty shifted her gaze to Shego, who nodded in agreement. "I'm for it."

"Either way, he still goes through me in the end," Betty stipulated. "And he comes up here."

"But not in the office," Shego pressed. "I don't need to add violent assault to my list of witnessed crimes."

Betty offered a small, brief smile that lasted maybe half a second. "I didn't hear that."

The corners of Kim's lips curved in a tiny smile in return as she wiped the remainder of her tears away. "Thank you for understanding."

"Absolutely. Although, I am curious to know how you found out it was Motor Ed, and how you traced it back to us..."

Now it was Shego's turn to smile, though there was clearly no heart in it. "That's a story for another time, Director."

"Fair enough," she allowed. She pressed a button on a small console on her desk. "He should be up shortly. You can...wait for him in the hall."

They nodded and rose from the couch, making their way to the still-ajar office door. Just as they were about to close it behind them, something slipped out of Betty's mouth before she could stop it. Again.

"What did Kim just tell you?"

Kim and Shego exchanged glances briefly, and then the younger of the two nodded slightly and rounded the corner out of sight. Shego looked back up at the woman behind the desk, her bright emerald eyes full of pity and sorrow.

"I'm sorry," Betty tried to amend. "I didn't mean...it just came out..."

Shego shook her head. "About Motor Ed. How he made Kim his."

Betty shut her mouth and listened respectfully.

Shego curled her hand around the door handle, her eyes still locked on Betty. "Kim was pregnant."

Betty blinked. "'Was'?"

"Was," Shego affirmed quietly.

And with that she closed the door, leaving a stunned and confused Betty behind.

* * *

Will Du traipsed up the final flight of steps required to reach Dr. Director's top-floor office, his footsteps heavy and his breathing uneven.

"Damn elevator," he swore. _Would it really hurt Betty to invest in a good repair crew? Thing's been broken for weeks..._

When he opened the door at the top of the staircase, the first thing he registered was darkness. This struck him as odd; no one ever turned the hall lights off, not after the third time an agent walked straight into the wall. Immediately his guard went up, despite his being in the heart of Global Justice. Something seemed off. If there was one thing Will could do better than another agent, it was judge the severity of a situation. But this...this was just weird.

He closed the door behind him, blocking out the light from the staircase and plunging both him and the hallway into blackness. His hand drifted to his stun watch on the opposite wrist, hovering over the red button on the top that would launch the conductors.

"Dr. Director?" he called hesitantly. "Is everything okay?"

"No, Du. Actually, it isn't."

Will stopped dead. That wasn't Betty's voice.

"You want to explain something to us, Du?" came the familiar voice again.

This time he recognized it. He released a breath he had been unaware of holding and relaxed his stance, dropping his hand from his stun watch. "Miss Possible? What are you doing here?"

"We have a few questions for you," she replied, her seemingly disembodied voice stiff and cold. "About something that happened three years ago."

"Three...years?" he repeated slowly. "'We'? 'Us'? What are you talking about?"

Suddenly, the hallway was illuminated with a flickering emerald light, emanated from a spot about twenty feet away from him. The new light revealed Kim, standing in the middle of the hallway with her arms crossed tightly over her chest, standing next to the origin of the glow - the deadliest woman in the world.

"Us," the woman repeated in a low voice. "You have any idea what we're talking about?"

Will did indeed have an idea of what they were talking about, and he didn't like it. He hadn't expected this to come back and bite him in the ass after this long. It had been years, for God's sake!

"No, I actually don't," he retorted, trying to keep his voice calm. Maybe he could gloss over all of this...maybe. If he played his cards right.

Neither Kim nor Shego were fooled. In the flickering but sufficient light of Shego's plasma, they could see the pallor overtaking the man's face, and the minuscule beads of sweat beginning to form on his brow. They could see the anxiety in his eyes behind the false sense of bravado he was trying to portray.

Will saw their faces change, saw the look of two people who knew they had come out on top, and then he knew he was screwed. Kim had a look of uncharacteristic malice in her eyes, something that would have looked more in place in Shego's eyes. Correction: the _two_ most deadly women in the world.

"Why?" Shego said simply, but that one word was weighed down with pain and hatred.

"I didn't know," Will explained weakly. "I didn't know it was him."

The two people in front of him exchanged skeptical glances. They didn't know if they were ready to believe him yet - especially not if he was the end of the chain. They had gone through Hego, Motor Ed, and Dr. Director to get to him, and they wanted it to end.

"You know what he did," Kim asserted. Her tone made clear that it wasn't an inquiry.

Will swallowed, tensing himself to dodge should either of them decide to lunge at him. "Not initially."

Shego snorted. "Initially. Why are you even fighting for this side? You seem more evil to me."

"Are you trying to recruit me?"

"God, no. I'm trying to get you to the side of evil where you'll likely be wiped out by competition within days. You don't deserve to fight for justice alongside Kimmie."

Will shook his head. "Look, I'm sorry..." he tried, realizing how weak his apology sounded given the state of things. He wasn't entirely sure he would be allowed out of here alive.

"Of course you're sorry," Kim said bitterly. "You're also sorry that this caused Shego to become a villain. That we've both lived these past three years terrified to get close to a man. That we're both marked by his symbol for the rest of our lives. That I lost my child."

Will blinked. He hadn't expected to hear that. "Your...child? You were...he impregnated you?"

"No shit," Kim snapped. At that point, she could care less about the words coming out of her mouth. She was tired of keeping it all to herself, and telling Shego had been the straw to break the camel's back. Because she had finally broken down and told someone what she had been keeping between herself and her mother for years, she felt empowered. Refreshed, even. She didn't care who knew. She just needed to get it out. "Yeah, he got me pregnant. I was going to be a mother at fifteen, maybe sixteen. I lost the child before I even found out the gender, before my stomach actually grew past my hips. And guess whose fault it is? Yours. If my body had been mature enough, maybe the baby would have had a better chance of surviving. I would have loved it regardless of the father." A few tears slipped down her cheeks, but she wasn't about to stop. Not now. "So, thanks. Thanks for getting us raped. Thanks for having him get me pregnant. That's the only good thing that could possibly come out of rape, and I lost it. You ruined our lives, Du. Maybe you weren't the one who actually did it, but knowing you caused it and not doing anything to make amends is just despicable and masochistic."

Shego extinguished one of her hands and placed it on Kim's shoulder. "Princess..."

Kim twisted her head around to look at Shego, her eyes bright with anguish and anger. "Selena, you know what he did."

_Selena? _Will blinked. _Her name is Selena?_

He didn't have time to dwell on that, though.

"I know, baby," she murmured in return, placing a kiss on Kim's forehead. Then she turned back to Will, who was trying to decide whether he was more scared by the women or weirded out by their sudden intimacy. "But you're not letting _me_ at him."

_Oh God,_ Will thought. _I'm dead. I'm so very dead._

Shego's other hand reignited with emerald plasma, and she stepped forward. "And you know how much more I like physical confrontations."

* * *

Late the next night, Kim lay in bed staring at her ceiling. She didn't quite feel like sleeping that night. She just wanted to stay awake and think about the events that had transpired over the past few days.

Finding Shego again - or rather, Shego finding her...

Shego revealing her darkest secret and finding out that it was shared...

Falling in love with her enemy, and having her enemy become her friend, and having her friend become her lover...

Being kidnapped again, and Shego once again coming to save her...

Shego seemed to have wormed her way into every aspect of her life. Like it or not, she was there to stay. Kim knew that Shego, proud and independent Shego, would need Kim for the rest of her life. And Kim, goody-two-shoes hero Kim, would need the villain for just as long.

She heard a faint sound over by her bedroom window, like a cross between a scratch and a tap. She turned her head to look, tensed to leap up and fight if it was an intruder. It _was _an intruder, but not the kind she had been expecting.

"Shego," she whispered, stumbling out of bed and using the bright moonlight to find her way to the window. With unsteady fingers she unlatched the lock and opened the window, allowing Shego passage inside.

"'Bout time, Pumpkin," she huffed, slipping inside. Her voice was shaking. "You know how cold it is out there?"

Kim threw her arms around Shego's neck. "Shego..."

"Yeah, I know it's me," the green woman snarked, but she wrapped her arms around Kim all the same.

"Why are you here?"

"I just wanted to see you. That allowed?"

Kim grinned and drew back so she could look Shego in the eye. "Of course it is." She took Shego's hand and led her over to the bed, plopping down on the edge and patting the mattress beside her. "Go 'head, sit down."

Shego obediently sat down, and a moment later she felt Kim drape a soft blanket over her shoulders. "Thanks."

"You looked cold," Kim said apologetically. "How long were you out there?"

"Not long. Maybe two minutes or so." Shego was silent for a moment. Then she let out a soft chuckle and glanced at Kim.

"What?"

"It's just kind of funny the way these things work out, isn't it?" she murmured.

"What things?" Kim inquired softly.

Shego gestured around her vaguely. "Just...this. This whole thing started in this bed, and now we're here again after it's all over."

Kim nodded. "It really is over, isn't it? It just seems so hard to believe."

"God, don't I know it." Shego draped an arm over the redhead's shoulders. "But I'm so glad it is."

"Me too." Kim rested her head on Shego's shoulder. "Shego...Selena, I mean...I'm sorry I didn't tell you."

"About what?" Shego asked. "The baby?"

Kim nodded again.

"Kimmie, you don't have to tell me anything. You just have to know that I'm willing to listen and keep it a secret if necessary. You know me." Shego offered a small smile. "I don't judge, Princess. When you're with me alone, you can tell me anything. Something like that...well, I don't think I would have told anyone either. I'm just a little surprised you told me then, of all times." She shook her head. "But it doesn't matter. I won't tell anyone else if you don't want me to."

The green woman was expecting Kim to actually say something in return, so she was caught entirely off guard when the redhead practically tackled her and crushed their lips together. The sudden addition of extra weight caused Shego to fall sideways from her already-sitting position on the bed with Kim on top of her. Once she actually registered what was happening and got past the initial irrational fear, she wrapped her arms around the girl and kissed back, pouring every bit of love she had for the girl into the kiss. It quickly became passionate, a tangle of limbs and questing hands. Finally, after so much time, it was just them. No one else. No more fear. No more pain.

The need for air forced them apart. Their cheeks were flushed, their breathing erratic, and the heat between them growing. Shego looked into Kim's olive eyes and saw the love and desire hidden there. She knew that, despite Kim still being in high school, she was a senior and of legal age. She was free to make her own decisions.

"Are you sure?" she asked breathlessly.

Kim brushed a strand of hair from Shego's face and nodded. She wasn't smiling, but Shego could see the happiness dancing like tiny sparks in her eyes.

"Do you trust me?" she whispered.

Shego didn't answer right away. Of course she trusted Kim; there was no question about that. It was just she didn't know if she was ready to do this. She looked down at their entwined bodies; they had somehow shifted so Kim was straddling her and leaning down so their faces were less than an inch from each other and their breasts were pressed together. It would have been extremely uncomfortable and frightening for Shego - had it been anyone but Kim.

"If you trust me," she breathed.

Kim dipped her head in a slight nod. "Of course I do."

Shego smiled and kissed Kim again, pulling the girl down so she was simply laying on top of her. Her pale jade hands threaded themselves into Kim's vibrant red hair and tangled there, but she didn't care. She was close to Kim, and that was all that mattered.

"We have to be quiet," Kim managed breathlessly when they broke apart again. "We have to be quiet..."

Shego kissed her again, briefly, simply to quiet her. Then, when she was silent, she leaned back and said softly, "I love you, Kim."

"I love you too, Selena," came the gentle reply. "I think I always have."

Neither of them left Kim's room that night.

* * *

Et...FINALEMENT! Je suis fatigué...this story has been in progress since last summer, though I only posted it in December. Now I can go and work on "The Green Wraith"!

For the last time for this story, thanks for reading!


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